Sigma Mercenaries 0002: Training The Trainers
by CSS Stravag
Summary: Sigma Side Story, Year 1, Days 004 to 020. Sigma One isn't just the boss, he's also a guy that solves problems and teaches others how to solve problems. Unfortunately, the newly-formed Secret Service is about to find out that having an instructor for a commanding officer is two parts interesting and five parts inadvertent uphill battle... (Rated M for later chapters)
1. Trigger Discipline

(Sigma Mercenaries Chronicles, Story 0002: Training The Trainers)

Not a huge amount to say in this foreword, today.

When you look at the mainline stories of the Sigma Series, a lot happens in a day, but as with real life, there is far more than meets the eye. If I went full-bore on the day-to-day affairs in the Sigma stories, I could easily do 100,000 words a chapter (a day) and still not cover it all. When writing an open-world random-plot story like Sigma, I as the author have to cherry-pick the most relevant and entertaining aspects to write about, but by no means is that the be-all-end-all of what happens.

Story 0002 is the classic example. Where the mainline pushes the plot forward, this story covers a subplot that shows up in bits and pieces in the mainline, and is detailed in length here. This is all about training and standards, how Sigma forms itself up into the mercenary unit that captures hearts and headlines throughout known Existence. Everyone starts somewhere, and this story chronicles the first set of major start-and-stop points.

Most of the action in this story will revolve around Sigma One (Erich Hess) and the Secret Service team, as he pushes them to learn new things and as they push him to improve in physical and mental pursuits. The cadging will be under the table in both directions; Hess won't outright state it, but he's working toward a multifunction group with his Secret Service, and the Secret Service won't directly say that they are trying to whip the American 'big guy' into some semblance of shape, by hook, crook, or magic.

Look forward to the end chapter of the series (Chapter 9, what should be day 20 of the Campaign); with Hess' continual 'indirect training' efforts on his Secret Service detail, they will wise up to his methods and run him through the wringer for it. There will be hijinks and messiness and other assorted wrong things and an alternate definition of the word 'pineapple' will be involved in that last run, but it's all in good spirit. I will pub one short chapter for this story for every even-day primary story chapter, so this will take a little while to execute.

You have the gist of it. Now onto the gratuitous warnings section!

NOTICE: All warnings for the Sigma 0001 story applies here. If you're reading this story, you should already have covered chapters 1 to 4 in Sigma 0001 REVISED.

* * *

(Sigma Mercenaries Chronicles, Story 0002: Training The Trainers)  
(Chapter 1: Trigger Discipline)

(21 March, Magi Year 14408 / Year SL 8838, 0600 Hours Local Time)  
(Target Range, Basement Level 1, Administration Building, Base Boarhound)  
(Day 4 of Campaign)

Immediately after Hess stepped through the lighted doorway into the range, the industrial overhead lighting began snapping on with audible clicking noises. Unconventionally, at first glance there was no shooting stalls or target caddies, which was both a bit unusual to Hess and somewhat expected all the same. Supposedly, the Star League had pioneered Holographic and Nanotechnology simulations by way of the METARgraphic (1) technologies — **M**aterial-**E**nergy **T**ransitional **A**daptive **R**ebuild Holo**graphic** systems — which allowed for reduced training expenditures and increased scenario variability up to any amount of realism that the trainees wanted.

Once Hess stood to the red line in the shooting range area, he set down the Anti-Grav Storage Case With Weapon Rails that he had prepared for the morning's weapon review. The case in question was loaded full with weapons, magazines, and ammo, but had an external carry weight of ten pounds courtesy of the integral antigravity systems that chopped down the actual weight by 95 percent. Such 'low power / high efficiency' Antigrav made it far easier to carry equipment long term and long distance, and in this case allowed Erich to carry a dozen various firearms, accessories, and appropriate munitions with roughly the same exposed weight as his customized AR-15.

"All right, Virtue, what's the process here?" Hess asked simply after he had a good look at the METARgraphic gun range.

"Control systems are on the back wall of the range area. Are you simply running a weapon function and control test series, or effects on target?"

"Both, actually," Erich explained as he approached the control panel. "Okay, this is fairly easy, and voice controlled. I like that." Sigma One took a few moments to scroll through the list of commands and familiarize himself with the control protocol for the range system. "Think I got it now. Range Control, deploy shooter line bench tables with entry gaps."

Hess watched as the METARgraphic system began building the bench tables from the ground up using nanomachinery. As machined, the table was nothing special, just a nondescript matte gray bench that straddled the red line. From command to ready table was only about 10 seconds. With the benches readied, Sigma One picked up the gun case and dropped it on the table, then flopped it open. "Range Control, deploy four paper target stands with B-27 standard silhouette targets, 10, 20, 30, and 50 yard ranges."

Inside the case, Hess extracted his first test rifle: a full-auto M4 carbine in the standard 5.56mm chambering. The former Militiaman (resigned as of midnight) also extracted a battle pack of M855A1 ammo for it (240 rounds), four magazines, and a striploader to facilitate fast loading of stripper clips. He attached the loader to the business end of the first magazine, inserted a stripper clip of 10 rounds, and used the loader to ram the rounds down into the magazine. Drop aside the empty clip, put a fresh clip of 10 in place, ram them home. After the third clip of rounds, he was left holding a full magazine at an expenditure of roughly ten seconds.

The targets were left waiting for him for about a minute while he loaded magazines and adjusted the M4. Enough time, though, and he was set up and ready for the first part of the test. He started with the 10-yard target, two rounds semi-auto to verify sights, then he went to full auto and did two-round and three-round bursts to get a proper feel for it. On his last ten rounds, Erich cut loose with the full auto to punch holes in the simulated paper target.

Hess ejected the magazine and stepped to the right a few yards to line up on the next target. A new magazine was in place and he slapped the bolt paddle to release the BCG (2) and chamber a new round. This time, he started with the short bursts, and worked his way up to longer bursts when firing at the 20-meter target. By the time he was done, a five-round burst put some good rounds into the chest cavity of the paper target.

On the third series, Hess moved a little more deliberately, and this time did a speed reload drill to get his weapon back in battery and ready to fire. At the 30-yard target, Erich cinched the weapon in tight and cut loose with full auto, and in the process managed to put some 22 rounds into the paper and 18 of those on the actual silhouette — a result he wasn't expecting, but was surprisingly pleased with given this was his second time in life behind a full-auto trigger.

The fourth target received the same treatment as the third, fast reload, fast on target, but this time Hess slowed down the fire rate to pairs and trios again, and kept that consistent until his bolt locked open on an empty magazine. At fifty yards, thirty rounds produced 26 hits in short-burst fire, which was a most satisfactory result for the new mercenary commander: it validated that the US Army and the Multimage Touman were not bullshitting on the efficacy of the M4 platform.

"Range Control, replace paper target simulates with human form simulates, generic, four male, four female," Hess ordered as he reclaimed his magazines. "Set ranges and positions randomized from 25 to 100 yards for new targets."

The simulates built themselves up in seconds, faster than the paper target stands, which told Hess that the system had been warming up when he entered. He took his time doing magazine loading while eyeing the target simulates, which were pasty-gray human forms in the two genders, with nothing particularly specific about them (more along the lines of a department store mannequin than anything else).

"Virtue, these targets are set up to do proper damage effects when hit, correct?"

"Negative. These are simple simulates, with the rough effect of shooting a department store mannequin." Hess grimaced but said nothing about the overlap of thoughts between himself and the AI. "If you want to review damage effects, you will need to use human analog simulates." The eight targets reformed themselves from the inside out into the human analog simulates, which were more along the lines of flesh-colored rather than the pasty gray of the human form simulates.

"Time to look at the terminal ballistics in action," Hess said as he loaded up the third magazine.

-x-x-x-

(21 March, Magi Year 14408 / Year SL 8838, 0620 Hours Local Time)  
(Hess' Quarters, Administration Building 4th Floor, Base Boarhound, Terra 232)  
(Day 4 of Campaign)

Toni adjusted the sling on her rifle to compensate for her slightly enhanced bust. Since she used a physical modification amulet on herself, she had not worn the M4, and only now realized that she was keeping it tight to begin with — probably too tight. Still, the 3-point sling had plenty of slack to work with, and now she had cause to learn how to use it beyond her old schoolyard education on rifles.

Before she headed for the door, Toni stopped and stretched out as much as she could, since she knew she was in for a rough morning. She had spent hours before on the rifle, but she doubted Erich would be anywhere near as forgiving as old Mechwarrior Ralphie had been back in her school days. A couple stretches to the left, a couple stretches to the right, and she was ready to head down for her first training session. A thumb to the door plate and it slid open —

"Waha!" Toni shouted as the door came open to a surprise, a familiar lady that had been extracted from the train.

"Yeep! Oh, perfect!" the lady said. "Just the person I need to talk to."

"You? Me?" Toni asked in shock. She could hardly forget the lady in front of her, as she had been the exercise guru on the train that Clarence had found hanging upside down while wearing only jogging pants and a smile. Toni had first seen her on the far side of her M4's suppressor, as she and Hess had forced her to surrender when she tried creeping on the unit as they passed her sleeper bedroom. "What?"

"I wanted to talk to you about the boss," the lady said. "Can you spare a minute, or do you need to go somewhere?"

"He'll be training me on rifle and pistol shortly," Toni admitted. "Come here," Toni waved her into the quarters and closed the door behind them. "What's on your mind?"

The Lady considered something, then decided for the direct approach. "The boss' physical health. The dude is massive, and that's not going to help him through this job."

"Okay, you have my attention," Toni said. "Start talking."

"I've seen this kind of guy before more than once. Lets himself go, puts it all in the job, kills himself with some manner of malady caused by his mass. Given Sigma One's size, I'd bet 65 on stroke, 35 on heart attack, at this time," the physical buff said.

"Okay, I was thinking the same, and trying to work on a way to cut his weight down gradually. What are you thinking?" Toni asked sincerely.

"I'll help train the troops, but I am going to do personal training on Hess to whip him into shape," she said. "Dude just signed on the plan, and most everyone in the building believes in it. Would not do well for him to crap out before the finish line."

"You win, but one word of caution. He doesn't move fast for anything, it's not in his mindset. Don't hammer on him, or he'll fold," Toni said as a caution.

"Got it," she said with clear understanding.

"Time to introduce yourself to the Boss. What's your name?" Toni asked.

"Sidonia," the lady answered.

"Follow me, and be prepared to prove yourself to the big guy." Toni thumbed the door open again, though this time there was nobody on the far side of it. "I am forming up a security detail for the Boss. What is likely to happen, I'll volunteer you for part of the detail, and we can work our way into a physical training routine gradually. He's already doing morning workouts, but he may need some professional help."

"Hess? Definitely needs professional help," Sigma Two (Clint Jamison) said as he formed up behind the two ladies. "Oh, you mean physical training professional help? He's slow as molasses in that department, but he is trying and he is slowly working towards a manageable goal."

"Which is?" Sidonia asked.

"300 pounds with street clothes on," Clint said.

"I think I can get him running lower. There's a gym in B1, full equipment. I think he needs a daily morning workout routine," Sidonia said. "Same with you, missy, if you're going to be his SPO… or confidant."

"Good point," Toni groused.

"You gunning for the big guy?" Clint asked as they passed down the stairs onto the first floor. "Good luck. A few tried at work, it didn't go anywhere."

"I think I have a captive audience, just don't tell him that," Toni said as they trudged down the stairs to B1. "Which way to the shooting range?"

"Dunno," Sidonia said.

"No clue," Clint said, looking around for some kind of sign about it. "Virtue?"

"Dead ahead, left at the next corridor, second door on the right," the AI entity instructed them.

"Ah, _si comprende_," Clint said as he led off.

The march to the shooting range was fairly quick, but it was not a march to the range alone: the three troopers were joined by four technicians moving gear in toward the range, some kind of assembly similar to the storage units from the trains. They stopped to get earplugs from the dispenser bin on the wall outside the range, and why became evident fast enough: before the door opened, the sound of automatic weapons fire was easily audible through the reinforced blast door.

"Plugs in," Clint tossed each of the ladies a pair, then pulled his own electronic earmuffs forward.

Once the ladies had their hearing protection in, Toni thumbed the door open just as Hess cut loose with another burst of automatic fire from whatever weapon he was using. The change in light pattern in the room caused him to look toward the new entrants, whom he waved over toward the benches.

"What's the toy, boss?" Clint asked as he approached. "Oh, Gewehr 36. Not bad."

"Not that good, either. Recoil is a bit heavier than the M4A4, and the German Army troops don't particularly like it due to barrel warping. I wanted to see if it was worth maybe getting a HBAR version, but probably not. We can get the same results or better from a different rifle without getting a heavy barrel."

"Notice you have a SCAR on the table. Done that yet?" Clint asked.

"Just got off it five minutes ago. I'd hit it," Hess admitted. "Toni, milady gymnast, welcome."

"Sidonia, sir. I'm here to volunteer for the training position in your security detail," she said.

"Asking the wrong person," Erich said, then jerked his thumb at Toni. "She's the lady in command of the SPO. I just work here."

"Uh-huh," Clint said in clear disbelief.

"You're in," Toni said with a smile, feigning that the decision had not already been made.

"Welcome," Hess said, holding the M4 out to Sidonia. "Mags and rounds are on that bench. Load four, make ready and hold. I want to see where your rifle work falls. Clint, since you popped a boner at the mention of the SCAR, grab it and a battle pack, take it down to the far table and throw some lead downrange. Range Command, set targets seven and eight to B-27 silhouette targets, range 50 and 100 meters. Toni, same thing as Sidonia: load four, make ready and hold."

"On it, sir!" Toni answered immediately.

Hess took the time to pull apart and wipe clean the G36 he had been working on, just a simple cleaning job since he didn't really have the time to do a full clean. Once that was accomplished, he locked the German assault rifle (3) into the rails on the outside of his storage box and pulled the next weapon he intended to test — the Remington ACR, which saw limited use in Afghanistan 2012.

"You're doing that the hard way?" Toni asked as Sidonia loaded her magazines one round at a time.

"Is there a different way?" the 'trainer' asked.

"Try this," Toni handed her a clip guide. "Clip this critter on the back of the magazine, like this," Toni attached the guide to the back of her magazine. "Slide a stick of rounds into the guide, brace the magazine on something hard, and push down with your thumb." In one motion, Toni loaded ten rounds into the first STANAG (4) magazine.

"Easier trick for you," Hess said from behind Toni. He picked up a magazine, a guide clip, and a stripper clip, then assembled them. "Save your thumbs. Use a table." Hess put the top round in the stack against the edge of the bench and pushed the magazine forward until all the rounds were loaded in. He pulled the empty stripper clip, put a new one on, and repeated the process. "Just don't do this to a table with a good finish, you'll damage the table."

"Got it, sir," Sidonia answered.

"Where does he get these tricks?" Sidonia asked.

"I wish I knew half the weird stuff this guy knows," Toni admitted. She watched the boss out of the corner of her eye, though he was using a different device to load the stripper clips.

With the bench trick, all three had magazines loaded at roughly the same time that Clint had the SCAR loaded and in action.

"Okay, we'll start with you, Toni. Number six human analog target, should be out at 125 yards, easy shot for an M4 with suppressor."

Toni drew the bolt back on her weapon to chamber, took aim, and loosed four rounds into what she thought was the right target. "Did I get it?"

"Wrong target, but you did hit," Hess said. "Looks like two chest and one shoulder hit. Range Control, repair target five." After a few moments, the hits disappeared. "To the right and a little farther off is the number six target. Try again?"

"And here I was liking the look of that number five target," Toni said before she snapped off a pair of three-round bursts at the designated target. "Any questions?"

"Not at all," Hess said after he counted off five separate blood streaks on the target analog. "Sidonia, number four target."

For the Trainer, the process was the same. Arm weapon, take aim, cut loose. Only, she didn't stop there; Sidonia did a burst of six on the fourth target, a pair of three-rounders on the third target, and another six-round on the fourth. "That third target is kinda creepy. So I drilled it a few times, just to be sure."

"So I noticed," Hess said tightly. "Second target is getting a bit close for comfort. Both of you hammer it with a short burst." The two ladies took quick aim at the 30m human analog target, and both were able to easily put fist-size groups into the chest. "Disarm and lock your bolts open." Erich looked to Clint, who was fumbling with magazines. "Clint! Stand down for target inspection!"

"Roger!" Clint shouted back. His weapon was quickly disarmed and locked open for the duration.

Hess crossed the line and waved the two ladies forward to join him. A short walk to the first target, and even without the blood trails he could easily tell the shots were nasty-lethal. "Cored her heart and part of her lungs out. Good shooting."

"How effective are these going to be for real?" Sidonia asked.

"Come here," Hess waved the two around to the back of the 30m target analog. "This is a very close approximation of real-world damage, since these analogs are set up to mimic human body effects," Hess poked part of the analog's undamaged area, which gave way to his poking like a human body would.

Sidonia gaped at the shredded back the analog had incurred from the nine rounds it received. "Serious?"

"The M4 has some interesting ballistics when using the older ammunition. At the muzzle, you're firing a 22-caliber icepick. Past 200 meters at the most, you're firing a 22-caliber icepick. Between twenty meters and 180 meters, the bullet strikes flesh, tumbles and shears inside the target, causing fragmentation that spalls outward throughout the body. Hence, this wide and somewhat random pie-plate-sized chunk torn out of this tango's back. We could set up ten targets, shoot them roughly the same, and get ten different damage patterns due to the rather unpredictable and vicious 5.56 ballistics."

"Oh wow," Sidonia gaped. "No wonder the Magi favor this weapon. A couple rounds inside the golden zone, that guy ain't getting back up. Or girl in this case."

"Next target," Hess waved them towards the #4 target, which was a further 50 meters past the number three target analog. "Okay, this was a little more organized than I expected, and good shooting. Six rounds, five body shots, one upper leg shot. If not already dead by the time he hits the ground, he'd bleed out fast enough. Only thing remaining to happen is to close up the grouping and you're golden."

"Hey! I was firing offhand, not braced. I can only do so much, big guy," Sidonia retorted his criticism.

"True. Next," they continued on to the 120m target number five. "Okay, this one is a bit more ragged, with only nine of twelve hits. Long bursts are helluva fun, but the longer you hold the bang switch, the less likely you're going to be putting rounds on target."

"Bang Switch? Never heard that term, it's kinda cute," Toni said.

"I don't claim it, I picked it up from the Claiborne County SWAT operators." Hess waved them to the last target. "Okay, Toni's handiwork. Very good grouping, all chest and torso. Looks like you've got the hang of it already."

"I hope so, I used a suppressed M4A4 in my school firearms classes," Toni admitted.

"Now, since you have the basics down, we start pushing the limits." Hess waved them back towards the front. "Shooting at simulates and analogs is a good start, but if you want to train for the expected threat, we have to start conducting ourselves like we are dealing with real-world problems."

-x-x-x-

(21 March, Magi Year 14408 / Year SL 8838, 0715 Hours Local Time)  
(Hess' Quarters, Administration Building 4th Floor, Base Boarhound, Terra 232)  
(Day 4 of Campaign)

"Holy shit!" Toni gaped after she entered the quarters. "That was intense! My arms are killing me!"

"I'm not far behind," Sidonia whined. "I do lifts, pushups, but those drills, where did he learn that?"

"I don't know, but if he learned those tricks in America, Gods help us if we have to go muzzle-to-muzzle against them," Toni answered as she entered the bathroom. "Come on, Sidonia, this shower stall has two shower stations. Might as well use them both, save time."

"You sure you can handle that? Some people freak out about communal showers," Sidonia said.

"Does it sound like I'm freaking out?" Toni asked.

Before she reached for the shower door, the quarters main door opened. "Just in time," Hess said as he entered with three duffel bags over his shoulders, two to the right and one to the left.

"Something up, sir?" Sidonia asked.

"Here," Hess handed each one of them a duffel bag. "Shower supplies, uniforms for each of you, I guessed on sizes so you may have to pick up different bras, and protein drinks in the end pockets."

"Protein drinks — wait! Recovery for the drills?" Toni asked.

"Exactly," Hess said as he took a quick drink out of his water reservoir. "Twenty minutes going to be enough for you two to shower?"

"Sure, why?" Toni asked.

"You asked me a question the first night we were here. I think I may have an idea on how to answer that question by the time you are done," Erich answered cryptically.

"Okay then," Toni answered in confusion. "C'mon, Sidonia, faster we get done, faster we get to the mystery."

"Yeah, definitely," the Trainer answered.

-x-

Hess entered the gun range again, and again this time he was the only person in the room (Clint had retired to cuddle his new SCAR assault rifle and take a shower, though Hess guessed not necessarily as separate actions). The ScrapNet Interface Point had been installed and confirmed working 30 minutes ago, which allowed Hess to run the two ladies through the paces with more advanced drilling, as well as allowed him to acquire their new uniforms while they cleaned their guns in the next room over (a room dedicated to cleaning and maintenance of guns).

He figured for now he would leave them with the M4 platform — numerically it was not as reliable as the Remington ACR, H&amp;K 416, or the FN SCAR, but it was common and it worked well. His first call was to grab a suppressor for Sidonia — silent and violent, he figured. Second, he grabbed each a brace of magazines and appropriate munitions, as well as a proper MagLULA stripper clip loader like what he used. That settled the rifles for the time being.

On pistols, Hess figured now was the appropriate time to make this call official. For decades prior to his being born, the world had been in the midst of a cold war, commonly known as the 'Caliber Wars' that raged between those who swore by one pistol caliber over the next. Hess had his opinion on the caliber war, but more to the point, he had a full army to consider, not just himself. In the final analysis, it came down to a question of how much he was willing to sacrifice for accommodation versus lethality. 9mm pistols were the widest usable of all calibers, but 45 ACP punched the most significant holes in targets at the cost of being less usable for some persons. Thankfully, someone had tried bridging the gap in the past, which led to an interesting and often-discounted alternative: the .40 S&amp;W. Roughly the same controllability of the 9mm, significantly larger hole in the target for those days that a mere mortal didn't always put their rounds in the sniper's triangle or the spinal corridor. Two Springfield XD Tactical pistols in .40, two Surefire TLR-1HL Tactical Lights, three extra magazines each, and munitions were added to the order.

Knives were easy to pick out — Gerber Prodigy survival knife, Gerber Multi-tool, Smith &amp; Wesson SW3B Bayonet, and that was completed. Ontario Knife manufactured the official M4 / M16 bayonets for the US military, but Hess figured his Smith &amp; Wesson Bayonet did the job well enough, and knife-fighting was not something an AR-15 or M4 was intended for to begin with.

The last part of his gear grab for the ladies was, oddly enough, the one they would need for the rest. He settled on a Condor Gunner Plate Carrier quickly enough, a pair of Level IV-rated armor plates for each (one front, one back), a Tuff 8-in-line Magazine Pouch (M4 magazines), a Tuff 5-in-line magazine pouch (double-stack pistol mags), and a Blackhawk Hydration pouch for their back panel. The last thing he grabbed for the two were OD Green pistol belts, necessary for the knife, bayonet, and pistol (which all had regular pistol belt loops, not MOLLE pouches). As a start, Hess figured that much would be a challenge for Toni and Sidonia to wear for an extended length of time without his conditioning for heavy gear sets, so he figured that was enough for now.

The kits fit nicely into duffel bags, and again Hess was on his way up the stairs to his quarters to deliver gear and this time to take a shower before his administrative work began in earnest today.

-x-

"Cleaned up, dried off, ready for the day," Toni said.

"By the by, what does the day consist of for you?" the trainer asked as she tightened down her belt.

"I just follow the boss around, help him with administrative stuff, I guess. Past couple days, I've been in on the setup stuff for the Protectorate," the Phoenix guessed.

"So, we're somewhere between secretaries and security?" Sidonia asked as she adjusted her sport bra for the day ahead. Hess had surprisingly guessed their sizes right, which neither lady expected offhand.

"Yeah, more or less," Toni said. "A lot of this is establish-as-we-move-forward kinda stuff."

"Okay, that's good," Sidonia said. "I'll do what I can for the secretary work, but I'll probably lean on you a lot for it. I'm a gym trainer, not an admin assistant."

"And I was a mathematician college student before I hit the Train," Toni admitted. "We have a lot to learn."

"Ready to hit it?" Sidonia asked after she pulled her shirt down and tucked it in.

"With a sledgehammer," Toni replied with a smile.

Sidonia was first through the door, followed quickly by Toni, and both stopped just past the door to the shower room. "Okay, what's in the bag?" the trainer asked.

"Little bit of a challenge for you two," Hess said before he hefted his own duffel bag with the day's uniform. "Take your time, and think logically when doing the initial setup."

"Okay then," Toni said as she approached the table and the two duffels.

"I guess this one is mine, you already have a silencer for your rifle," Sidonia said as she closed up on the bag with the suppressor.

"Yeah, probably," Toni said as the door to the shower closed. "So, what's in the bag?"

A good yank on the zipper and they had their answer. "Pistol kit, XD Tactical .40 S&amp;W, three spare magazines, eight magazines for M4s, and what are these?" the trainer hefted one of the hard curved objects out of the bag. "Wait — Strike Face, Medium Plate?"

"Armor plates," Toni gaped. "MOLLE pouches — and the bottom is a plate carrier?" Toni was the first to dig it out of the bottom.

"Are you kidding me? The plates alone weigh more than my school backpack, never mind the carrier, the pouches, the magazines, the — the — what the hell is this?" Sidonia waved around a pouch of some kind with a an olive tube attached to it.

"Water pouch," Toni answered. "Okay, who the hell is supposed to be the trainer here? Him or us?"

"I'm beginning to think we're getting played in some fashion," Sidonia said. On a whim, she ventured over to where Hess kept his non-armor tactical vest and lifted it off the hangar. Her reaction was swift and almost comical as the weight of the vest dragged her face-first into the side of a rifle rack. "Eep! This thing is HEAVY! No way I could wear this!"

"I could have warned you about that," Toni said with a smile. "He said it weighs 70 pounds fully loaded."

"More than half my weight," the trainer admitted. "Okay, I take that back. We're not getting played, we're being challenged. And I don't intend to lose to the big guy!" She stormed back to the table. "Okay, how do you assemble these things? I want this ready before he gets out of the shower."

"Virtue?" Toni asked, never having dealt with MOLLE gear on her own before.

-x-

"It goes exactly as you expected, Sigma One," Virtue reported while Hess showered.

"Good. If they expect to keep up with me in a mobile gun battle or train clearing scenario, they're going to need the conditioning. It's one thing to walk or run circles around a building, it is a totally different thing to walk circles around that building wearing 60 or 80 pounds of gear."

"Do I inform them of your objective?" Virtue asked.

"No, I think I will leave this as an open-ended challenge, see if either of them begin to understand the picture," Hess said with a smile. "We continue as normal, though I expect they will give me grief for this no later than lunchtime."

* * *

**Author's Chapter Afterword**:

This is a small side-story project that came to mind for me. It will showcase Hess walking through the motions of training his Secret Service group to keep up with him mentally, in lethality and in unusual tasks. This is not so much anything against the Secret Service ladies; on the contrary, at least two are equal in intelligence and one is above him (you'll see the rest of the Secret Service troops in chapter 5 of the mainline story). The catch is, Hess is hyper-conditioned in understanding and analyzing things, which makes him a fast learner, a natural at picking up new processes, and mentally agile to a degree that frightened his Information Tech co-workers on his homeworld. Also, for being a large guy and rather badly out of shape, Erich is extremely well conditioned in bearing large loads for extended periods of time, which is another thing the Secret Service troops have to get used to in following him. In some of the coming campaigns, a magazine bandoleer and a rifle is not the minimum expected equipment, the minimum required equipment is far higher.

Don't worry, though, the Secret Service troops will get their vengeance at the end of the series. I've already got that one planned out, and they will be mentally and physically hammering on the boss in 'thanks' for the 'training' he is passing out. :)

I intend to run a chapter of this story every other campaign day, so the next chapter will run parallel to story 0001 chapter 07 (Campaign day 6).

* * *

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No reviews yet for this story. Any feedback welcomed!

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**The Gripe Sheet**:

No gripes so far for this story. If you've got complaints, I want to hear them.

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**Footnotes**:

(1): **M**aterial-**E**nergy **T**ransitional **A**daptive **R**ebuild Holo**graphic** systems. Using a combination of nanotechnology, high-energy encapsulation and transmission, and holographic projection systems, these holographic fields allow for any manner of simulation to be entered into the material matrix and executed for full physical and visual realism. These can be as basic as a simple holographic full-realism shooting range, to a completely lifelike training simulation of a hostage crisis in an office building, and any combination in between. The only effective limitation is the footprint of the training field; vertical scalability is easily applicable up to 10 times the horizontal scalability.

(2): **B**olt **C**arrier **G**roup

(3): This is the proper use of the term **Assault Rifle**. By dictionary and legal definition, an assault rifle is any rifle that fires an intermediate cartridge, is smaller than a nominal battle rifle or light machine gun, and is select fire (semiautomatic, burst, full automatic, or some combination thereof). The political term _Assault Weapon_ is a fabricated name that refers to any weapon that contains military-style features and may or may not scare politicians into attempting to ban them for little or no purpose. The actual proper term for an _Assault Weapon_ is **Sporting Rifle**, **Marksman's Rifle**, or **Civilian Rifle**, since such weapons DO NOT fit the actual legal qualification of an automatic weapon.

(4): **STAN**dardization **AG**reement. These Agreements amongst NATO groups were used to create standard equipment and practices to easier facilitate cooperation between the various NATO armies. That said, the STANAG magazine protocol was never officially adopted — the STANAG for the magazines was Draft STANAG 4179, which was never ratified by all the member states. Hence, the German G36 rifle uses magazines that are not interchangeable with other NATO parties, just as one example. That said, most of the NATO weapons do use 4179-compliant magazines, but are not technically obligated to.

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**Included Works**:

—Sigma Mercenaries mainline story and location

—IRL Weapons: Any of the weapons demonstrated so far are IRL, except for the M4A4 which is a Magi upgrade to the M4 platform.  
—IRL Armor: The Condor Plate Carrier and Level IV plates are a legitimate and civilian-legal armor solution.  
—IRL MOLLE Pouches: Any of the shown pouches are available on the retail market, though some of them are rare (the TUFF 8-in-line and 5-in-line are not commonly used outside of some narrow circles).


	2. Handling Heavy Equipment

(Sigma Mercenaries, Story 0002: Training The Trainers)  
(Chapter 02: Handling Large Equipment)

(23 March, Magi Year 14408 / Year SL 8838, 0700 Hours Local Time)  
(Jump Engine Construction Area, Base Boarhound, Terra 232)  
(Day 6 of Campaign)

"What's the plan, sir?" Moira asked as she looked at the parked machines, the parked trailers with the engines, and the trench going from the Administration Building west wall to the Jump Engine enclosure.

"Mosley's team will not be ready for engine deployment until 1000, they're working out some details for the base controller system and the Jump Gate Beacons, which gives us a golden opportunity to do something now before they start," Sigma One said. "Can you drive one of the large heavy-hauler trucks?"

"The HEMTT trucks? Probably can, never tried," Moira said.

"C'mon, I'll give you a crash-course in running these things," Hess hopped over the cable trench and waved her over as he started for the vehicle.

"Are you sure about this, sir?" Moira asked the departing militiaman-turned-planetary-administrator. The Black Dragon hustled to catch up to the boss as he went for the truck and headed around to the passenger side. After he disappeared around the far side and the sound of the door opening was heard, she simply sighed in resignation. "Couldn't hurt, I guess." Moira moved to the driver-side door, opened up, and climbed up into the cab in the most graceful fashion she could while wearing 20 kilos of armor, gear and guns.

"Any experience running wheeled vehicles from your time in your homeland?"

"No, sir. Dragon, remember? If I didn't fly there, I teleported there," Moira explained.

"Good point," Erich acknowledged. "Still, I don't think Dragons can lift more than five tons or so?"

"On a very good day. I never tried lifting more than two tons at one time in my draconic form," she admitted. "These things are definitely higher than 3000 kilos."

"And that's why they're so useful. Key is above the visor, go ahead and turn your ignition to 'Run', then flip the starter switch and hold it up until the engine catches."

Moira followed the instructions completely and was rewarded with the throaty diesel revving up briefly before it settled down to normal idle. "Okay, first thing, vehicle safety. Number one, seat belt. Click it or lose it." Hess pulled his seatbelt down and locked himself in, and the trainee driver did the same. "Number two: your dashboard indicators. These three bar graphs on the HUD are the critical ones: electric, oil, and engine temperature. Keep all three of these gauges in the green zone; if one gets into the yellow or red, bad things happen. If they go yellow, shut down and call for service. I'll take an operational delay over a dead machine any day."

"Green is good, yellow call for service, red is dead, easy enough," Moira said.

"Other one you need to worry about is the fuel. Little hard to go anywhere without fuel, but running it dry isn't necessarily damaging to these machines."

"Now that I figured already," Moira pointed out fairly.

Hess chuckled at her tone. "Okay, time to work on the movement aspect. First thing, you need to determine if you're going forward or reverse."

"Forward, I think," Moira said, then checked her rear-view mirrors. "Yeah, there's a vehicle hangar behind us. Wouldn't go well backing up."

"So you need your gearshift, then." Hess pointed it out. "P is park. R is your reverse. N, neutral, D is your full range of forward gears, and L is going to be your low-range selectable gears."

"So I want D?" Moira put her hand on the gearshift.

"Not yet. Before we do that, we need to discuss your footwork," Sigma One said.

"The pedals. I have heard about this. Left is brakes, right is throttle?"

"Yes. The thing I like to tell people is, when in doubt, use those brakes. In fact, for most purposes when moving loads in close quarters, you're going to ride your brakes as a means of keeping your speed down. So, when shifting out of park, always put your brakes on, then make your change. Set it to Low, then move the secondary electronic switch down to '1' and we're ready to begin."

"Make it or break it time," Moira said. She dropped the gearshift down to 'L' and set the manual selector to '1' for the start.

"Now, foot off the brakes and feather the throttle. You'll hear the engine rev up as you apply gas."

"Speaking of gas, this thing is close to empty," Moira said.

"You know where the Northeast Fuel Farm is?" Hess asked. Moira nodded. "Let's go there, it'll be a good confidence builder and we can keep the machine going."

Moira slipped the brakes and applied some throttle to clear the impromptu parking lot. "Okay, this is weird," she said. "I think I've got this." She turned the steering wheel over to the right once the truck was clear of the other vehicles and applied a little more throttle. "We're going, but I can probably run faster."

"That's what I want to see," Hess said. "Get used to moving slow, then we ramp up to higher gears as you build experience and skill."

-x-

(15 minutes later)

"How much fuel does one of these things hold?" Moira asked in shock after the counter passed 80 gallons.

"Dry tank fill is 155 gallons," Sigma One said. "If you were down below a quarter, should take about 90 gallons to fill."

"Oh," Moira said before the pump shut itself off. "Done."

"Close her up, shut the pump off and jump back in, we're done here," Hess said. Moira, having been a near-luddite over her years, took a bit of time to work through shutting off the pump and hanging up the nozzle. Still and all, Erich had to give her credit — she learned fast and had no problem with it, where he would have figured her one more for the use of magic to do the job.

"No logging or tracking?" Moira asked.

"I already did the logging." Hess waved his tablet at her. "Next time you drive up to the pumps, it will flag one of the tablets in your vehicle crew to do the logging, before it starts the pump up."

"Insane, how much these systems work together. And this used to be your job?" Moira asked as she hauled herself up into the cab and buckled back in.

"Still is, but on a different level now," Erich said quietly. "Now I make sure everything works together in a government, not simply an integrated system."

"Except when it doesn't," Moira said. "That punk Nicholas…"

"I do not expect universal success," Hess admitted. "Nicholas is a symptom of a larger problem, and we shall have repeat offenses as we go forward."

"And you're not concerned about it? Eventually they're going to stop doing the civilians and start taking shots at you," the black dragon pointed out as the HEMTT lurched into movement.

"Good. The longer I take flak and fire, the longer I have to consolidate personnel and positions," Hess said with a savage smile.

"What are you referring to?" Moira asked as she trundled down the roads between the hangars.

"Simple. The longer this goes on, the less likely the racist elements can build support for their position," Sigma One pointed out. "Given enough time, it becomes possible to simply out-man them with nonhumans. At that point, the racist minority of xenophobes have two options: shut up and slink away, or try to go to guns against a numerically and wizardically superior force."

"Oh," Moira said. "You're going to… basically…"

"Oh yes. Force them into a position whereby they must choose either civil war or removal from planet, unless they just want to shut up and smolder in place," Sigma One declared his intention. "What option they choose is entirely up to them; I have contingencies planned for all of the above."

Moira chuckled. "So, basically, you saw this coming and are ready to hammer them flat."

"More or less, yes. Take a left here," Hess pointed down an alleyway between two of the hangars. "Take a right and head down three hangars."

"What's this about?"

"Trust me," Erich said while watching the GPS Map on his tablet. Moira shrugged and took the turn, then shifted up to a higher gear to pile on some small amount of speed. "Okay, stop here by that second personnel door."

"Sure," Moira brought it to a halt at the requested door. "Park it, or shut down?"

"Park it, we won't be long," Hess slipped his belt and dropped out the door fairly quickly, to which Moira did the same after she ensured the parking brake was on.

Moira made it to the door as Hess started looking around through the window. "Expecting something?"

"Coyotes," Hess said after he looked through the window. "Not seeing any."

"That's good," Moira said. "Now what?"

Hess turned the latch and hauled the door open. "After you."

"Uh-uh. I may be guarding your arse, big guy, but that doesn't mean I trust you completely yet."

"I somehow expected that," Sigma One said, then stepped through and held the door open for her.

Just inside the door was the light panel for the hangar lights, which Hess flipped up the master power lever. After a few moments, the lights began droning, then they started popping on with an audible clicking sound.

"Empty hangar. Nice," Moira said, still unconvinced why she was here.

"Check this," Hess flicked the diagram he was looking at on his tablet over to her tablet.

"Okay, I'll bite," Moira pulled her tablet from the TT pouch on her Dragon Scale Six armor set she was wearing. "Whoa."

"Yeah, lots of parking for engines while we wait to move them out to different array locations. But that's not the primary purpose of this space," Hess commented.

"Then what is?" Moira asked. "Wait, what are these runes?" Moira did some readjustment of the picture on her tablet. "Wait… these are…" She read over the diagram on her tablet several times in the space of thirty seconds. "No way! Is this for real?"

"Exactly intended as shown," Erich said calmly. "This hangar for the ladies, the next hangar west for the gentlemen. Space unused for the Runes will be used for engine storage, as I expect we'll get a large stockpile of engines before we can put them all in service. After we disburse the engines, we can always retask the storage levels, or clear them out and do something else."

"Okay, why?"

Hess sighed. "There is still a lot of fear running around the non-humans about the possibility I would go 'protectionist' and turn on the non-humans whenever the race war kicks off."

"Bullshit, we already know you're not going to do that," Moira scoffed at Hess' intro to an explanation.

"You know, yes. The average recruit, not so much," Erich pointed out.

"Oh," Moira conceded indirectly.

"Actions always speak louder than words. A couple big, loud actions would move the pendulum in the proper direction," he said.

"You know this will provoke the race-fiends?" Moira asked, waving the tablet at him.

"How skippy do you think they will get when they want to destroy one of the Runes and have to try to run a gauntlet of various Phoenix and Dragons to get to it?" Sigma One asked.

"If we had some of the heavier Dragons, Gold, Platinum, or Eternal, it would be a complete blowout if anyone tried. They'd have to have anit-tank weapons to even harm a Platinum or Eternal."

"And the combined wizard skills of the defenders would be overwhelming to anyone except a Transcendent," Hess completed the thought.

Moira saved the view on her tablet — the other Secret Service officers would want to see his plan. "You know, on the way in, I said I don't trust you completely. I stand corrected; anyone crazy enough to bait the xenocidist elements like you intend to has to be on the level or extremely crazy."

Hess chuckled. "So, if I may ask, which of the above is it?"

"Both," Moira answered with a smile.

-x-

(10 minutes later)

"This is where the trailer camera comes in handy. You want to back the tractor yellow line back into the reflective plate, which will guide the kingpin into the lockpoint. Take it slow, you don't want to try to fight the trailer once you connect."

Moira focused on the backup camera and partially let off the brakes to slowly creep backwards until the kingpin entered the lock well and finally slammed into the fifth-wheel recess. Once the truck came to a stop, she went full brake. "Lock it in now?"

"Yes," Hess said. Moira tripped the kingpin lock and the whole truck shuddered to the ratcheting of the lock plate. "Set your park brakes, we need to prepare the trailer for movement."

"Got it." The Black Dragon-in-human-form unlatched herself from the five-point harness and dropped out of the driver's seat with increasing grace. Hess joined her a bit slower, since he didn't take the drop to the ground but simply climbed down. "So, I need to pull up the jacks, anything else?"

"Cabling," Hess climbed up on the beaver-tail between the trailer and the cab. "Two cables: one pneumatic, one electrical. These control your lights, accessory power, and air brakes on the trailer. The connection points are different for each, so confusing them is not possible."

"Brakes would be good," Mira said as she climbed up on the beaver-tail to connect the necessary cables. The electrical connection was square with sixteen prongs, the air line was circular with two partitions inside, so connecting them was simple enough. Both connections simply locked in by way of ratcheting rotational locks, so Moira plugged them in and locked them down. "Done here. Get the right side jack?"

"Will do," Hess dropped down to the ground and ratcheted up the jack stand on the trailer until it was up to storage location. "Done here."

"Ready to go, sir." Both climbed back into the cab and strapped back in. "Driving test?"

"Not yet. Now that we have the trailer on the fifth wheel, we check it before we simply drive off. Brakes on, set yourself in first gear, but make sure the brake valve to the trailer is closed." Hess indicated the valve selector for the extension lines, which was indeed closed. "Now, pull forward slightly until the trailer recoils against the kingpin latch."

Moira released her brakes slightly until the tractor jolted from the impact of the kingpin against the latch. "Okay, it works, I guess?"

"That is what we IT gurus call an ID-10-T test. If you don't get the recoil impulse after a half-meter of travel, you're not locked in. If you do get the recoil, you're connected and ready. Always do the check before you move the trailer, it saves grief and damaged trailers or hardware."

"Sneaky trainer, you are," Moira said. She flipped the trailer air lines open, which caused the compressors to begin pressurizing the trailer brake lines and eventually released the brakes. "Where to?"

"Pull over to the trench and run your trailer parallel to the dig." Hess diddled with his tablet while Moira maneuvered over there deftly. He was slightly worried about the other trailers, but she managed to avoid the trailer-turn pitfall of cutting corners with a long trailer.

Monica managed to avoid the obvious pitfall of driving the tractor into the meter-wide trench while she brought it parallel to the trench. "In place, sir."

"This is likely going to fray your nerves, but it's time for the all-important back-up training. Backing up a vehicle cleanly without staring backwards is something that eludes most wheeled drivers, doubly so for a vehicle with a trailer."

"I'm here to learn, so what's the trick?" Moira asked.

"Two separate tricks, actually, depending on what you are driving. If you drive a stick vehicle, no hinge points, the direction you turn the steering wheel is the direction it will turn. If you drive an articulated vehicle, like a tractor-trailer, you turn the wheel the opposite direction you want the trailer to go, but you want to be careful that you don't turn too far into the trailer or you jackknife."

"Got it. Turn the opposite direction," Moira said.

"Remember to turn it easy when you need an easy turn, and turn it hard when you need a hard turn," Erich reminded her. "Now, we'll do this entirely in Reverse 1 gear, no high speed. Take the trailer all the way back to the end of the trench, where it meets the outer wall of the Administration Building."

-x-

(20 minutes later)

"Bring it down, bring it down, good," Moira said. She connected the tension cable to the block and tackle of the Pipelayer. "Ready to begin laying it in!"

"Not until you're out of the way, we aren't," Hess corrected her. The Black Dragon-in-human-form dropped down off the trailer and headed back to the cab of the HEMTT 2 tractor to help play out the cable. As Jeff Evans was now at the dig site, he would help with the cable operations in the wall interface and for the block and tackle.

"Bring it over, boss," Jeff said. Hess brought the cable end up off the trailer, pulled it over the trench itself, and used the entire pipelayer to unwind the cable from the massive coil on the back of the HEMTT trailer.

Once the cable was in position, Jeff began signaling for Sigma One to lower the cable into position for the coupler. Given the winch motor on the Pipelayer was strong but not fast, dropping the cable some four meters to the connection was not the fastest process. Still, Erich watched the hand signals of the engineer-to-be as an indicator of what he needed to do, and between the two the cable was positioned properly for the connection. Specialist One applied a putty to the threads on the connection point to seal out moisture from the connection and to provide lubrication in case they had to unhook or replace the cable, then came the tough part. Jeff straddled the cable, pushed it into place, and screwed down the tensioner nut on the 30cm Fusion Power Cable to completely lock it into place on the wall.

"Good to go?" Hess asked by radio.

"Yeah, we're in here," Jeff answered before he climbed his way out of the trench. "You can leave the chains, I'll pull them off before I start filling in. Where is the Pipe Harness?"

"Should be on the back of the cable trailer," Hess said. Jeff found it faster than Hess was able to get the pipelayer boom into place, so the harness was in place around the cable by the time he was in position to begin moving the cable. "Testing lift now, stand clear." Five seconds of winching the cable up and it became obvious that everything was connected properly and the pipelayer could handle the cable weight easily. "We're good to go. Moira, you ready?"

"Listening," the Black Dragon said.

"I am going to guide the first section of cable into the trench, then we begin the move-and-drop process I explained. Stand by for first drop," Hess said before he started lifting the cable on the harness and sliding the harness down towards the cab of the HEMTT 2 vehicle.

The 400 meters of cable was a bit of an oddity the way the contractor company had put it on the trailer. They had welded four supports onto the HEMTT trailer and wound the cable around the supports in a racetrack pattern with some tension to prevent it shifting during travel. So, Hess had to unwind the cable from the trailer using the boom and harness of the pipelayer, not an easy task overall for a novice on the pipelayer.

The first loop of cable — 40 meters or so — dropped to the ground with a significant thud after Hess had the first section loosed. "You all right, sir?" Moira asked after the truck stopped rattling.

"Definitely, I'm good. Pull forward about twenty meters and we'll do it again," Erich said with some gusto. While she was pulling forward, the misplaced Tech Analyst-turned-general purpose guy pulled a length of the cable into the trench in such a way that it would not yank the transition connection point out of the basement wall of the administration building. "Good there. Time for the next loop." The process was roughly the same, Hess pulled the slack of the cable up, cleared it around the pins, and flopped it down on the ground to be snaked into the trench.

"This has definitely been a learning experience," Moira commented as Sigma One dragged the cabling into place.

"We'll be doing a lot more of this in the future," Erich said with assuredness.

-x-x-x-

(Administration Building Mess Hall)

"Where is the boss?" Toni asked as Moira took her seat with a tray of comfort foods, which was a bit unusual for her (so far as Toni had seen Moira's diet, it was small but heavy on the vegetable products).

"He's upstairs getting cleaned up," Moira said. "Oh man, that was intense. I didn't realize how hard that was until after I was done."

"What?" Toni asked, surprised to hear that from the normally even-keeled Moira. More surprising was the complete lack of context, and the multiple directions it could have gone or multiple things she could be referring to.

"The big guy had me out at the construction site, learning how to drive the HEMTT tractor-trailer rigs. I was fine while doing it, but man, he wasn't joking about it fraying your nerves, driving something like that," Moira explained as she dug into the meatloaf and mashed potatoes with gusto.

"First time behind the wheel, and he had you driving the HEMTT 2 tractors? That is cruel and unusual," Anastasia said.

"How so? Someone has to drive the truck while the pipelayer lays out the cable," Moira answered.

"He started you on one of the largest, heaviest wheeled vehicles in the project. Normally, drivers start in small, passenger car wheeled vehicles, or something similar maybe?" Anastasia pointed out. "I don't think he was being deliberately malicious, but still…"

"Well, it was a learning experience," Moira said, mostly to convince herself of her own logic.

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**Author's Chapter Afterword**:

And the training continues!

The average person never really considers how many varied skillsets they have or use in a day until one writes them down on an itemized list. Then there is the consideration for Sigma: not every person walking in the door is a fully-trained modern society adherent, so they will be missing certain skillsets.

Moira is a classic example of this consideration. A Dragon by nature, she did not really have an operational requirement for certain skills in her homeland. Hence, little skill with firearms and no skill with motorized vehicles. Now, in Sigma, she isn't using her Dragon form so her offensive options come back to using modern weapons and her mobility options consist of teleport magic, hot-footing it or vehicle. Thankfully, Moira is still young enough to not be hidebound in her ways and old enough to be reasonable in her learning pace and focus. It helps that Hess is a very willing and capable instructor to step her through the pitfalls involved in learning vehicular pursuits.

While the scale of her initial training will come back to bite Hess in the arse before all is said and done, the utility of the training will become evident fast enough in both the mainline story and coming Contract stories. After all, Battletech has a lot of wheeled vehicles for both support and combat purposes, so those classes of vehicles will make a big showing in Sigma as well. After all, the Combat Wheeled Vehicle maximum mass is 80 tons, which is well in excess of a fully loaded HEMTT vehicle, so…

The only thing that remains to be seen is when the Secret Service realizes their boss is training them harder than they are training him, and decides to do something about it…

That's pretty much it for this chapter. **NEXT UP**: Sigma One's prior job, Technical Analysis and Systems Engineering, comes back to haunt Leonora.

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**Review Replies**: Three Reviews for the last chapter. MUCH THANK YOU FOR THE FEEDBACK!

Kilvanya: I kinda-sorta forgot I had the chapter ready and posted it 5 minutes before I had to crash for my sleep cycle to get to work. You have my apologies for that :)

Knives 91: Yep, 70 to 80 pounds of gear worn routinely will get someone in shape quickly.

The icepick gag is effectively the ballistic truth about M193 and M855 rounds for the AR-15 / M-16 platforms. On the other hand, Sigma will be using the M855A1 most of the time, and likely using expanding ammo where they can get away with it (Hornady V-MAX, Nosler Ballistic Tip, similar). They're mercenaries, not altruists. Fighting fair is for the football field, not the battlefield.

HolyDragoon: There are indeed two sides to the equation, and the second side to this story will bite everyone in the arse in days to come.

Keepin' that fuel coming! Thanks guys!

* * *

**The Gripe Sheet**:

No complaints on the last chapter, and this may be the first chapter ever that my clean-up Beta Reader **Necroblade** reported no visible errors in a production chapter. So, much thanks to **One Village Idiot**, **Sieben Nightwing**, and **Takeshi Yamato** for cleaning thangs up!

* * *

**Footnotes**:

No footnotes for this chapter's material.

* * *

**Included Works**:

— Sigma Standard: All applicable material from the mainline Sigma Mercenaries applies here.

— Personal Works: The Runic Magic System, of which the Transformation Runes that will be installed in the hangars are part of, is a physical stationary manifestation of the standard magic system in use throughout my stories.

— IRL Units: The HEMTT System (**H**eavy **E**xpanded **M**obility **T**actical **T**ruck) is an IRL unit, but the HEMTT II units are improved versions in use by the Magi for noncombat or rear-line duty. HEMTT II units are available in both ICE (Diesel Engine) and Fusion (not shown here), and have a maximum tow capacity of 60 tons as opposed to 40 tons for the United States HEMTT units.


	3. Impact Work

(Sigma Mercenaries, Story 0002: Training The Trainers)  
(Chapter 03: Impact Work)

(26 March, Magi Year 14408 / Year SL 8838, 0600 Hours Local Time)  
(Hess' Quarters, Administration Building 4th floor, Base Boarhound, Terra 232)  
(Day 9 of Campaign)

For Hess, it was a hard sell to duck out of morning gym time, but in this case Sidonia had given him a 90-minute pass given the projects he had lined up that were not trivial matters.

And, as these things happened, certain forms of pain were best shared, so…

"Morning, sir," SSO Lydia Q. said after Sigma One stepped out of his apartment into the corridors of the fourth floor.

"Good morning! Or, at the minimum, a better morning this morning than in the past week, I daresay," Hess said with a smile.

"After yesterday, it is good to be back to the usual routines," Lydia answered.

"Not a fan of yesterday's break from the mundane?" Hess asked after a moment.

"No, it was a good break, and I'm not even frustrated with being the hands-down worst shot on the line in the sniper comp. It's all in good fun, and the entire SSO group got an up-vote for trying, but word around the base is that you are a monster behind the scope. That alone makes it worth it, nobody in their right mind is going to fuck with you when they know you can do left-eye-right-eye at 250 yards reliably."

"Huh. Not the apropos I was aiming for, but it works," Hess said as he waved Lydia towards the stairs. "I would have figured Toni toasting the target field with a **Fireball** spell after we were done would have struck more fear in people than my precision rifle work."

"No way," Lydia said. "It's like you pointed out while cleaning the rifles, at 250 yards, by the time the target hears the shot, the target is already dead and you have crosshairs on his buddy (1). That is some real fear factor, that they never hear the shot that got 'em. Nobody in their right mind would screw with that."

"So it's only the ones not in their right mind I need to concern about," Hess said glibly. On the bottom floor, he continued down the hall and down the stairs into the engine room, headed toward the railhead.

"Uh, sir, where are we going? The new train?" Lydia asked.

"No, certainly not! Clint has that sorted out, I will not interfere unless he needs it," Hess said. "No, our purpose here is to grab an item, a dolly, and hike it upstairs for installation. Once we have it in place, we use that item to complete further objectives," Hess said as he opened the door to the Rail Head and began the descent down the stairs.

"Wow, that was… surprisingly vague," she commented dryly.

"Relax, Lydia, all we're doing is installing a ScrapNet Interface up top, then we use it to pull tools, equipment, and materials for a couple projects upstairs," Hess said before he hit the bottom stair. "Do I not get any fun with wordplay here?"

"SIGMA ONE ON DECK!" The westernmost of the two Armored Infantry guarding the access stairs to the engine room shouted after Sigma One landed on the bottom floor and turned left

"Erm, as you were," Hess said. _Wasn't expecting that_, he thought but did not say.

"Nor was I, sir," Lydia said.

Hess took the next left into the ScrapNet Bay and stopped. Lydia was fast enough not to plow into his back with the sudden stop, but only barely. "How many of the Secret Service are telepathic?"

"Four, sir," Lydia said. "Oh! Oh shit, sorry! I didn't realize I did that!"

Sigma One sighed. "I do not know how I should feel about that, really," Erich said as he approached the ScrapNet Terminal. "I mean, coming from a nation where privacy is a de jure expectation, if not always reality, the premise of telepathy or similar skills is a bit haunting. Still, I guess it comes down to the premise of elimination of thoughtcrime and conspiracy, and criminalizing only crimes, not the intent or the discussion thereof. And then there is the privacy conduct angle, but..."

"That is — " Lydia was cut off briefly as the ScrapNet Interface beeped to signal the arrival of the material. " — The most unusual explanation I have ever heard for it."

"Remember, United States Law is based mostly on the premise of innocent until proven guilty, with the burden of proof on the prosecution. It was written so — " Hess cut himself off during the lifting of the motorized appliance dolly, which was not a particularly light item. " — So that the government theoretically could not use the court system as a weapon against the people, in the same way tyrants do so routinely to intimidate the people with a patina of legitimacy."

"But…?" Lydia prompted him.

"But, in the past five or six decades prior to my departure on the 523 Train, the whole premise of innocent until proven guilty has been pissed on thoroughly," Sigma One said as he walked the dolly toward the boxed-up ScrapNet Interface Terminal. "Can you tilt that back so I can slip the dolly under it?"

"Oh, sure," Lydia grabbed the two handles on the top of the box frame and hauled it back. "Holy — this thing is heavy!"

"Now you know why I have a motorized appliance dolly for this gig," Sigma One said. "If we had to truck this thing upstairs the hard way, neither of us would have usable backs for the next three days."

"The power of planning," Lydia said.

"Hrm?" Hess indirectly prompted her for an explanation of her comment.

"Oh, nothing," Lydia said innocently. Hess figured (not incorrectly) that she was leading toward something.

-x-

(10 minutes later)  
(Northwest Corner, Administration Building 4th Floor)

The process of hoisting the ScrapNet Interface up to the top of the Administration Building had been slow going, though the effort involved was far reduced from what either had expected for the task. Still, both Sigma One and Lydia had worked up a significant sweat just getting the Interface Unit up the stairs.

"So, we're here, now what?" Lydia asked after they arrived on the top floor.

"Now, oh, now we put the unit in place, connect it, and bolt the damn thing down," Hess said. "Then, once we have that in place, we pull 36 ScrapNet Tiles to bolt down as well, creating a small three-meter-square ScrapNet Pad and an interface up here," Sigma One said.

"Where to? Or, is it where the Techs pulled that cable set out of the western channel?" Erich nodded twice. "Bullshit. Always the farthest point away," she groused.

"I had them put it there because that is a dead corner on the west wall, not much traffic, and because it is the corner geometrically farthest away from my apartment door," Sigma One said. "If I am going to have ready access, I want it to be as physically difficult as possible. And because the position also dissuades Clint from wandering around the top floor in his underwear."

"Do what?" Lydia asked.

"Give it a few weeks, you will encounter him wandering around in his boxers. He is also rather fond of doing so when doing handloading. Less fabric, less chance of static sparking, less chance of igniting primers or powder," Erich said deadpan.

"Okay then," Lydia said, not entirely believing Hess on that note, but not about to argue the point.

"And this is it," Hess said as they arrived at the destination for the ScrapNet Interface. "This is also a bit handy for those cases when someone has laid siege to the building, having an extra terminal makes it easier to draw ammo for a protracted battle."

"Good point, never thought of that," the Copper Dragon in human form said. "Where do you think of these things?"

Hess snorted with a big grin to effect. "Planning and analysis skills, milady," Sigma One said at the same time he started cutting the plastic straps that held the cardboard box over the ScrapNet appliance. "To win at anything, one must understand what has to be done, devise a method to accomplish what must be done, and then must execute the plan to get it done. Most people can get point one. Not many people are effective at point two. If a person tries point three without proper effort in the first two points, they usually fail. Proper analysis gets you the objective. Proper planning gets you the method. Proper troops get you the results."

"They wrap these things pretty well," Lydia said as she assisted Sigma One in the process of unpacking the terminal.

"Nature of the beast," Hess said as he used his combat knife to chop through the exceptionally tough sealing plastic wrap.

"Okay, we have it loose, now how do we do this?" the Secret Service Officer asked.

"Carefully." Hess rocked the terminal onto one edge, then spun it to move it off the cardboard baseplate under the terminal. Another such action and it was free of the last vestiges of cardboard. "Now, we crab-walk it over to where it needs to be."

"Got it." The two rump technicians walked the unit over to where it needed to be, effectively one step at a movement, until it was roughly where Hess intended it. The ScrapNet Terminal was about the size of a short, fat professional range / oven unit, with control systems up top instead of burners and the oven section is where gear went in or out. Without the packing and shipping material, each ScrapNet Interface Unit weighed in at about 400 kilograms, hence the difficulty in transport or placement.

"Glad you talked us out of a workout, boss, this damn thing is all the workout I'll need today."

Hess giggled. "This is just the warmup, milady. Things are going to get better from here out."

"Serious?" Lydia asked.

"Quite serious. Now, if you want, check this," Sigma One said as he crouched down at the back of the device. "We have a data interface cable and a power cable. I'll let you do the connections."

"Certainly, sir," she said. The cables were simple to attach, a rotary locking lug secured the power cable and the data was a straight-in spring-steel-locking plug. "Done."

"Machine's coming up now. Virtue, do you have the purchases for the next phases readied?" Hess asked his tablet.

"Yes, all equipment is purchased and ready. You may commence at will."

"Start with the securing hardware and tools for the interface box and the plates for the Pad."

"Extracting from storage now," Virtue said. The interface locked, made some electrostatic noise for a few seconds, then dinged to signal ready.

"And here we go." Hess pulled out a significantly large drill with a forearm handle, a pack of drill bits with flanged heads, a socket set, and two bags of fasteners — one was some kind of bolt, the other was something different, a steel cylinder with four small cuts on the outside? "Time to get this screwed down, then place the floor of the Scrapnet Pad and begin the next couple projects."

-x-x-x-

(26 March, Magi Year 14408 / Year SL 8838, 0700 Hours Local Time)  
(Phoenix Room, Administration Building 4th floor, Base Boarhound, Terra 232)  
(Day 9 of Campaign)

Of the 16 rooms on the top floor of the Administration Building, so far only 8 were in use. One was to be set up as a full-purpose armory, one for the Secret Service Barracks, three for the Sigma Callsigns (for obvious reasons, Clarence and Victoria shared a room), one for Nereus, one room for Gail Storme, and the last had been converted into a Phoenix Hatchery.

And, one of the problems with the latter arrangement, was the lack of mission-specific equipment in the armory, the hatchery, and the barracks for the Secret Service troops. That said, using portable equipment to do what should be a permanent job was unacceptable to Hess, given the price ranges of permanent fixed equipment compared to the portable stuff and the expected maintenance over time. Hence, the present project schedule.

"The Phoenix Room?" Lydia asked as they stopped at the apartment in question.

"Permanent heating and environment systems, cheaper and more efficient than portable equipment. Flipside, we have to hard-mount them into the titanocrete walls, which is, as just demonstrated, an interesting challenge," Sigma One said with a raised eyebrow.

"Right," she said before she tripped the doorbell on the room. After ten seconds, the door opened up to reveal a lady in a nightgown — Amethyst, the friend to Dianthe who was also grossly violated by the racist punks that were slain later that eventful day.

"Sir!" She said in shock. "I — "

"Hold, Amethyst," Hess said. "It is early, and I am not offended by your lack of complete dress. Can hardly fault you for being in your jammies this soon after waking up."

"Oh, thank you, sir." She bowed slightly, which gave Hess a brief view and Lydia a partial view. "Uh, if I may ask, what may I be of service for?"

"We are here to replace the temporary heat lamps with a proper array of radiant heat systems on the walls," Lydia said.

"Something wrong with the heat lamps?"

"No, they are good hardware, but permanent hardware would be better — this is probably going to be a permanent facility, unless we have to expand it to a significant degree," Hess said. "And for a permanent facility, permanent equipment is cheaper to maintain in the long run."

"Oh, understood, sir," she said. "What do you need from me?"

Hess held out a pair of electronic earmuffs. "This will get noisy and dusty, but this is the kind of task that is done once and that is it for that area. As we move forward, we'll put the mods into other parts of the room."

Amethyst stepped back and allowed the two in to do the work. "All right, boss, where do we start?"

"Shift the portable lamps to the right, install the wall unit on the left side. Unlike the heat lamps, these radiant units are attached to the wall surface around the enclosure — they will provide a more even heating than just a heat lamp."

"Got it, sir," Lydia said as she began moving and adjusting the heat lamps to gain easy access to the egg resting area, and immediately realized a problem. "Sir, issue."

"Indeed, even I wouldn't try to do as we envisioned," Hess admitted. "Opposite corner. We'll put the plates in place, then we move the egg into position with the plates. And, as we find ourselves dealing with Phoenix that are pregnant, we will move forward with setting up new cubicles and swing-out arms for more plates."

"Vertical, sir?" Amethyst asked.

"No, this is all horizontal," Hess said. "We're not doing a stack — pack — rack routine on this. That would be uncivil."

"Oh, good point," Amethyst said.

"That, and I want space above each cubby for medical monitor equipment."

Lydia reached the corner and stopped to survey the task. "Okay, this is workable. Here," she said before she pulled out a placement projector. Once activated, the projector put lasers on the center of the locations where the bore-holes needed to be, which allowed for very easy, very accurate drilling locations. The locations were programmed into the projector by way of Virtue, and the projector could be moved and would keep the dot position so long as the lens still had line of sight to the needed area.

Once the dot pattern was set up, one thing became quickly obvious about the work site. "Okay, sir, looks like this is a one-person job by the quarters. You or me?"

"You need the practice. I did a lot of masonry drilling back when I was on my homeworld."

"Got it, sir," Lydia said. She plugged the hammer drill in, checked to make sure the quick-attach bit was secured in place, and moved up to position to do the boreholes.

"Remember, level your drill before you even put your finger on the trigger." Lydia took a few seconds to make sure the drill was angled properly, then drove in on it and cut loose with the trigger. Halfway to the required depth, she stopped, backed the drill bit out to clear debris, and drove in again to finish punching into the titanocrete wall for the first hole. Total time to do the first borehole was roughly ten seconds.

"That was good," Lydia said before she flexed her back, then arched and stretched. "Rough on the shoulders, though. The vibration of the drill feels weird."

"Whenever you're ready," Hess said as he prepared the wall anchors for insertion.

"You saw that, right, sir?" Amethyst asked. "I mean, Toni said you — " she was cut off by the sound of the hammer drill, briefly. " — Toni said you don't miss much, if I remember correctly."

"Oh yes, I don't miss much, but keep in mind I don't fly that way," Sigma One said.

Lydia bored the third of fourteen needed holes for the project, again in ten seconds, and again with a stretch and arch afterwards. Much to Toni's apropos, he did not miss much.

-x-

(15 minutes later)

The last of the bolts on the movable heater frame was ratcheted down into place until it was tight, rendering the frame attached to the wall so the egg could now be surrounded on all four sides by radiant heat systems. The actual heating element for the water hoses was self-contained in each frame panel, with an isolated water loop in the panel to give the radiant heat; all that was needed was electricity, and if the heat system failed, the entire unit was replaced en bloc and the failed unit was returned to the manufacturer for warranty service (lifetime warranty).

"How much expanding does the egg do?" Hess asked.

"Five percent, in the days prior to hatching," Amethyst asked. "I've been researching this, I want to make sure it is done right," she said emphatically.

Lydia closed up the unit, creating a four-direction box around the egg enclosure. "Now we move it."

"You have one side, we have the opposite corners," Lydia said immediately, since this was mostly a factor of strength.

"Roger that," Hess waved them over to where the egg was still sitting on a nylon tarp that had been used by the Armored Medics to transport the egg initially.

"Whenever you are ready, sir," Amethyst said.

"We're going to do this real slow, guys. Lydia, I want you on the back corner, Amethyst, near corner." Hess crouched down and took hold of the two hand-holds put in place by the Armored Medics. Once the two ladies had maneuvered into place, Hess steeled himself for one of the most delicate operations he had done in his lifetime. "We do count of three, then lift on what would be four. Follow?"

"One, two, three, lift?" Lydia asked.

"Correct. One, two, three, lift," Hess did the timing, and the two ladies matched him movement for movement. "Keep it steady and keep the corners up. Let the tarp cradle it."

"Aye, sir. You're walking backwards, you set the pace," Amethyst offered.

"Lydia, keep an eye out for obstacles." Sigma One began shuffling himself backwards at a slow pace, to make sure he was not outpacing the ladies. "How we doing?" he asked after a minute.

"Hold," Lydia said, which brought the whole train to a stop. "You about walked backwards into the movable frame."

"Great, a heating panel up the ass. Lovely way to start the day," Sigma One said. "Which way does it need to go?"

"To your left, sir," Amethyst said. To both their surprise, he was able to shift his weight to one leg and use the other leg to boot the panel clear from the path. "You're free, sir."

"Nice and slow," Hess said as he maneuvered backwards until his back hit the wall. "Okay, you two rotate around, easy, then begin setting it down. You set the pace."

"Slow, sir," Amethyst said. "Slow, slow, almost there, done," she said as the tarp and egg reached the ground, then the tarp slacked under it.

"I'll move it into alignment," Lydia offered, then took over the handles against the back wall of the room to drag it into proper spacing from the heater panels. "We're done!"

"There has got to be a better way to move an egg! My back is killing me!" This time, it was Amethyst that did the stretching and flexing. Again, much as Toni had said the day prior, he did not miss much, and Lydia noticed that Hess had noticed.

"Twenty kilos, give or take," Hess judged.

"Our vests, with full ammo, weigh more," Lydia said. "And we're still wearing them."

"Virtue, you have the panels online and regulated?" Hess asked.

"Go ahead and close the enclosure, I will take it from here," the AI entity said.

"Mission accomplished!" Lydia said after the movable panels were closed up.

"Tomorrow, we resume with the armory," Hess said. "For now, we get cleaned up and ready for the day."

* * *

**Author's Chapter Afterword**:

Bit of a different take on things in this chapter.

First, one of the things the Secret Service troops are going to have to learn is the plethora of analysis, planning, and technician functions that Hess used in his day job in prior years, and Hess will inadvertently teach them all those skills to one degree or another. This may not seem to be a big thing, but it is as things move forward: the ability to repair things big and small helps take some of the strain off the engineering groups. And, as these things happen, they will also prove handy as a secondary skill for after their retirement from Secret Service duty — I expect that some, if not most SSOs will retire from the position eventually.

The second thing is, obviously, the Phoenix Hatchery itself. This is a rather revolutionary concept amongst even the Magi, who while they do provide some accommodation for Phoenix or Dragon, there are no actual Hatcheries for Phoenix or Dragon eggs anywhere in Known Existence. Usually, individual ladies will set up a single or double egg resting spot in their nest (home), and to an extent such eggs are somewhat environmentally resistant, but a systematic setup for optimal care does itself not exist prior to this one. Given that both Phoenix and Dragons are a small minority in Magi society, it was never considered that such a facility would be needed in any direct fashion.

Sigma One, on the other hand, is seeing a need for such facilities, given the density of Dragons and Phoenix in his own ranks are well above the national average for the Magi. Something about the innate magic skills of the Dragons and Phoenix make them a bit more survivable on the Trains, I daresay. Anyway, in fashion that Hess intends to make the organization a bit more friendly to nonhumans, you will actually see a lot more of this and similar projects to come — Sigma will, in time, end up being one of the major powers to have integral and widespread ranks of nonhumans, including several classes of nonhuman that are not commonplace or represented at all in the other Star Empires. Dragons are rare amongst the Magi and slightly more common amongst the New Moon Empire, Phoenix are rare amongst the Magi and the Illyaris, but amongst Sigma they will be fairly common — including several breeds that are not seen amongst any of the Star Empires, such as the Chromatic and Eternal Dragons or the Eternal Phoenix. Not to mention that, among the major and minor Star Empires, Dragons and Phoenix very rarely do anything to advertise their nonhuman status, instead preferring to play low key by way of remaining in human form. Amongst Sigma, there will be a shift toward those entities operating and staying in Draconic or Phoenix form unless required by duties to operate as Human form.

Third thing is the noted personal conduct between Sigma One, the Phoenix Guardian (her title to come), and the Secret Service operator. This is one of those things that will come back to haunt everyone involved, especially when considering that the Secret Service deliberately structured themselves all-female to keep the attention of the Sigma top-level operators. Suffice it to say, there may be some opinions on conduct here that are inflated past the point of actual conduct and will cause adverse reactions when the Secret Service personnel get together and compare 'notes' on what they think is happening.

On the outside of my writing, as of right now things are still going to Hell and I am trying to sort it out as best as possible. It will take time for me to get everything sorted out, and my ability to write narrative is taking a hit. And then there was the whole 'no internet for two weeks because my phone demarc is flooded and filled with snakes' problem, so I could do little active writing for a goodly part of the end of June and into July. Yeah, not been a good few weeks for me :( As soon as things start calming down, you will see me return more to my traditional writing pursuits and return Sigma to side-story status, but as of right now I am writing Sigma pretty much heavy because, at least for me, it is easier for me to narrate random selection systems than it is to write prose altered by random results. It sounds counter-intuitive, but it is not. Trust me.

That's it for now. I'll keep writing as best as possible, when possible!

* * *

**Review Replies**: 1 review for Chapter 2, thanks!

Holy Dragoon: There are more than a few ways this could have gone, but as I stated in the notes, this is going to become more prevalent as things go on. The Command Section and the Secret Service are headed for a 'jack of all trades' designation rather quickly.

**The Gripe Sheet**:

No gripes, just one request to move the narrative along by one of my Beta Readers. The slow, building pace of the narrative is the intent of the story, with a culmination at the end of it that shall be three parts strange, one part creepy, and five or six parts embarrassing. As always, thanks to **Takeshi Yamato**, **Sieben Nightwing**, **Necroblade**, and **One Village Idiot** for the support and patience during these trying times!

* * *

**Footnotes**:

No footnotes for this chapter.

* * *

**Included Works**:

— Sigma Standard: All applicable material from the mainline Sigma Mercenaries stories applies here.

— Personal Works: The Runic Magic System, of which the Transformation Runes that will be installed in the hangars are part of, is a physical stationary manifestation of the standard magic system in use throughout my stories. (Shown in Chapter 2, will be expanded on in coming chapters of both mainline and this story).

— IRL Units: The HEMTT System (**H**eavy **E**xpanded **M**obility **T**actical **T**ruck) is an IRL unit, but the HEMTT II units are improved versions in use by the Magi for noncombat or rear-line duty. HEMTT II units are available in both ICE (Diesel Engine) and Fusion (not shown here), and have a maximum tow capacity of 60 tons as opposed to 40 tons for the United States HEMTT units. (Shown in Chapter 2)

— Game: Dungeons and Dragons: the ScrapNet Interface is a derivation and technological reworking of a special item in the original Advanced Dungeons and Dragons system, called a Magic Hole. The Magic Hole allowed someone to open the hole, reach in, and withdraw anything from the pocket space (hammerspace in anime nomenclature) that was previously stored there, or could put materials in. The ScrapNet systems are the same principle, but far more organized and cross-dimensional, relying on the ScrapNet Interface Units to direct what goes in and out. This is all centrally maintained and processed by ComStar, and is a lucrative business venture for interdimensional purchase and shipping of goods.


	4. Unstated Rivalry

(Sigma Mercenaries, Story 0002, Chapter 4: Unstated Rivalry)

(28 March, Magi Year 14408 / Year SL 8838, 0605 Hours Local Time)  
(Hess' Quarters, Administration Building 4th Floor, Base Boarhound, Terra 232)  
(Day 11 of Campaign)

"Not doing morning workout today?" Sidonia asked after she entered the boss' apartment.

"Nope, we have a project," Hess said. "You can pull your armor and set it on the table, but keep your pistol belt, harness, and drop legs. We'll be doing plenty of lifting here shortly."

"Why not all of the gear?" Toni asked after she was part way into her body armor.

"Work your way slowly into doing tasks in a full gearset," Hess cautioned the three SSO troops in front of him. "It took me years to get properly used to doing common tasks with full vest and arms. And I did injure myself once or twice building up that tolerance."

"Oh," SSO Rasine T. said from behind Sidonia. Hess hadn't worked with her much yet, she had a habit of working the night shift thus far, guarding the halls and rooms during the dark for everyone else to sleep peaceably. This was, technically, the end of her day, and for that Hess felt a little guilty having her on this task, but not enough to call her off.

"So, what's the beef?" SSO Asuka L. asked.

"An armory and proper barracks for the SSO group," Sigma One flicked a diagram from his tablet to the main monitor in his room, which displayed it at maximum scale for the four SSO operators to see.

"That?" Sidonia said. "I think I can like that."

"We're going to do this in several phases. First round is the actual armory racks, storage, and bunks." Virtue highlighted those fixtures. "Second round, we expand the physical dimensions of the room by merging it with an unused neighboring apartment," Again, Virtue illustrated the changes by highlighting. "This will increase floor space by 120 percent. Third phase, we upgrade bathrooms in both sections, merging them into one communal bath, shower, water closet, and a sauna at the end." Virtue highlighted each section in turn. "When I developed this plan, I intended new fixtures and equipment, but we can use salvage from the Trains if you want it and redirect the budget into something else."

"The showers in the Trains were decent, the bedrooms acceptable but we can do better," Sidonia grumped.

"My back says we do better," Asuka replied tartly. "I say we pull salvage from the Trains for use in the bathroom, but get some real beds."

"Works for me. It'll be a week or two before we do the bathroom work, so the Scrap Team can get us the goods," Hess finalized that part of the plan. "We'll determine exact placement and requirements at that time based on the salvage on hand. Fourth Phase, in the second half of the apartment we will clear out this executive area and replace with a proper kitchen and dining area suitable for the crew."

"Hope you're going to let us do some cooking for the command level, sir," Rasine said with a smile.

"Well, that, or we let Clint loose in the galley, the scrawny one can cook almost at the professional level, and Clarence, Victoria or myself are not slouches behind the counter either. Virtue, include an interdimensional food dispenser in the plans as well."

"Already included, as is another ScrapNet Interface in the armory section," Virtue highlighted the former in red and the latter in green.

"Phase five is lighting, electrical, monitors, furnishings, glory cases, and miscellaneous odds and ends. Expectation is that we will work on this in groups in sections, rotating schedule every three or four days depending on operations load to allow for directed workouts or training in the mornings. Any questions?"

"No sir!" Toni responded for the other SSO troops.

"Prepare to flex your backs, people," Erich said heartily as he stood up from the head of the table. "Everything in the starter room comes out in the next hour, to be stored for sale in ScrapNet."

-x-

(30 Mins Later)  
(SSO Barracks Western Half)

"Last item. Last stinking item," Rasine grumped. "And it had to be the big one."

"Of course," Hess said with a smile. "Misery spreads itself out across a length of time. True pain always waits until the end of the task."

"This thing isn't going to fit on the smaller ScrapNet Pad we have up here," Sidonia pointed out the obvious mahogany elephant in the room.

"It isn't going to fit out the door without disassembly," Toni guessed.

"We will disassemble and stack the components on the smaller pad for storage purpose," Hess said. "Asuka, the screwgun please?"

"How do we do this?" Rasine asked as Hess looked up under the table.

"Roll it to one side, unscrew the table columns in the center, separate the top surface from the columns, and disassemble for shipment. I'll roll it toward your side, set it down easy as it comes your way."

"Got it," Sidonia said. The balance of the table's weight would still be on the legs, but as the heavy top surface rolled in their direction it would be noticeably heavy.

"On three. One, two, three," Hess exhaled significantly as he pulled the table up and began rolling it sideways in their direction.

The table and chair sets used by the Star League for their Executive Officers Quarters were both very utilitarian and rather well designed, a combination that was contrary to what Hess expected from the normally dumbass Star League. The tables were built in a 'monopod' configuration, a single series of columns in the center of the table supported the surface and branched down to some rather heavy feet. With no legs at the corners or in the center, and with the feet positioned at 45 degree angles to the flat edges, maneuvering up and down the tables in roller chairs (office chairs) was relatively easy. The tables were made of a rather heavy hardwood, Hess figured Mahogany or Ironwood offhand, meaning that a table suited to seat roughly 24 persons weighed in at almost a ton. The fasteners in use on the tables were not light-duty screws, he figured the lag bolts in use as hardened steel, possibly tool-grade steel, with hardened and anodized washers to ensure a good solid bond. If nothing else, he figured it entirely possible to run a dance party on top of the table with little or no risk of the table collapsing under the dancers.

Of course, at nearly a ton weight overall, it took all five of the persons involved to lower the table to its long edge and expose all the bolts for disassembly. "Oh wow!" Asuka grumped. "They built this thing HEAVY!"

"Can't accuse them of screwing everything up," Toni said.

"This may be one of their few legacies worth talking about," Hess acknowledged the point. "Virtue, do you have schematics on this mighty piece of furniture? I could see these being an interesting skilled craft export once we get a proper logging and foresting industry up and running."

"Confirmed, the designs are part of an old military database, they are not copyrighted or patented."

Sigma One started with the lower bolts on the center column, the bolts facing the ground, and removed those six fairly easily. The two end bolts on the pedestal were also easily removed, but after the second of the middle bolts came out the remaining lag bolts groaned in protest. "Change of plans. Toni, Sidonia, on this side and support the ends of the center column. Asuka, Rasine, keep the surface braced and perpendicular to the ground. If we do this wrong, it will destroy itself under its own mass."

"Right," Asuka answered as she took more of the surface load while Toni and Sidonia shifted around to the back of the table.

"Ready, sir," Sidonia said after she took a grip.

Hess worked his way out from the center, two, then two, then the last two one by one. After he loosed the fifth bolt, it took both Sidonia and Toni to keep that end propped up, while the big guy used his thigh to brace the other end of the pedestal and used his arms to alternately lift it into alignment and unscrew the last lag bolt. When the last bolt cleared the frame under the table surface and released the pedestal to gravity, it took effort from all three on the bottom to prevent the pedestal from dropping.

"OKAY!" Toni shouted. "This is way the hell heavier than I thought it would be!"

"Probably about 750 pounds or so, 3/8s of a short ton," Hess gauged as they rotated the pedestal up to standing on its legs without the table surface on top of it. "The table in the annex section remains, so once we're done with this mother we are done with the superheavy objects," he consoled the help.

"And now for the surface," Sidonia said, projecting some air of resistance to the abuse.

"Now that I look at it without the pedestal in the way, this is a compression fitting object with eight fasteners," Hess said. "This will be very fast to disassemble. Remove the eight lag bolts and the table top falls apart into the frame and twelve slabs of surface material. Efficiency and sturdiness, I think I misgauged the craftsmanship on this one by quite a bit. Now, let's get this set up right: Sidonia, Asuka, Rasine, Toni," Sigma One indicated where he wanted each to stand. "Grab the two panels in front of you and get ready for this thing to disassemble itself in sections."

"Ready," Rasine said with a bit more gusto than she actually felt. She had volunteered for the task even against her inner dread of being one of the physically weaker of the SSO troops, but figured the effort was a given if she wanted to remain faithful to the group's' initial intention…

The first two lag bolts on the outside corners caused the entire table top to groan as tensions was released. The third lag bolt was partway up the frame toward the head of the table, and with it the end cap and the first two panels were loosed. Sidonia took quick control of these three easily enough, relieving pressure on the other three. The second central lag bolt loosed another three panels, two of which Asuka continued to prop up by hand and the third which fell back against her chest. Before he tackled the remaining central bolts, Hess removed the two end bolts at the head of the table, which loosed the rest of the compression against the central slabs, and the last two bolts were easy enough to remove and loose the panels.

"That's that, peeps." Sigma One used some box tape to tape the lag bolts for the tabletop frame to the inside of one of the frame rails. "Let's get the surface into the ScrapNet System, then we worry about the pedestal." Hess lifted the frame up onto his shoulder and started walking with it independent of any assistance.

"That frame has to be over 200 pounds, how the hell does he do it?" Sidonia asked nobody in particular after the boss was out of the room.

"Are we sure he's human?" Asuka asked.

"And I thought he was supposed to be out of shape," Rasine groused.

"He is out of shape," Toni confirmed. "Notice how you never see him run?"

"He can bench-press the back end of a compact car, but he can't run," Sidonia grumped. "Something is a bit wrong with him."

"Come on, these things aren't going to carry themselves down to the ScrapNet pad," Toni chided the SSO helpers. She walked hers over to the wall nearby the door, then lifted one and started walking with it.

Rasine sighed after Toni was out of the room. "You know she's not going to say it," Rasine said to Asuka.

"It's obvious," Sidonia interjected. "Personally, I'm a bit ambivalent on your conspiracy to keep them happy, but I'm also not one to be defeated so easily."

"A challenge, is it?" Asuka replied. "I accept."

"If you're going to challenge each other, don't injure yourselves in the process," Sigma One said as he entered the room, completely misreading where the conversation had gone (mainly because he heard only Asuka's reply). He grabbed one panel from Rasine, one from Asuka, tucked them under his arms, and headed back out the door.

Toni came in, grabbed her second panel, lifted it and was out the door without a word.

"We're not going to challenge ourselves, we need to work on challenging them," Sidonia said. "We're going to need a good, solid challenge for them, follow?"

"Make 'em or break 'em," Asuka agreed to the terms.

-x-

(10 minutes later)  
(SSO Barracks (under construction) northern wall)

"Okay, disassembly and cleanup are done," Sidonia said after the last of the dust and debris was swept up into a dustpan.

"Yes!" Toni half-squealed with her arms in the air.

"Now the fun begins: stocking furniture and beds for you guys," Hess said.

"And No!" Toni continued even with her arms up.

"May I call a vote for a break?" Rasine asked.

"Eh, take a union five," Hess said, something of a wan joke amongst the other Claiborne County Militiamen (none of which had any love for unions). "I'll get the first load of gear in place. Virtue, deploy a pallet jack and pallet to the pad," he said the latter sentence toward one of the wall-mount speakers, which doubled as a microphone.

"Preparing now." the artificial intelligence entity answered.

Sigma One stepped out into the hallway and went five paces before he stopped in one of the hallway intersections to stretch. "The analyst in me knows there's some shit getting ready to go down, but given this crew I'm not sure if this is going to be a bad thing or just crazy," he quietly vocalized his thoughts on the conduct vis-a-vis the three non-Phoenix SSO troops. He had not yet caught anything truly pointing toward something, but small hints of their conduct were starting to suggest some manner of conspiracy.

"Should I warn them off?" Toni asked from behind Hess as he began moving again toward the pad.

"Nah," Sigma One snap-decided on the matter. "Let's hold close, see where this one leads. I'd say don't even pick at their thoughts, unless you really want to spoil the surprise," he said at the edge of the pad before he pulled the pallet and jack off the pad. "I don't think where this is going is malicious, not yet at least, so we'll hold on it."

"I figured you'd say that. You have a lot more of an adventurous streak than you give yourself credit for, big guy." Toni dialed in the delivery for the first load of gear headed into the room, a series of eight bunk beds and associated foot lockers for the SSO personnel.

"And that is a helluva thing to say to a guy whose professional life has been an exercise in eliminating variables and random chance," Erich said as he moved the first bunk-bed-in-a-box from the transported stack to the waiting pallet.

"You're at war with how much adventure you want versus what you do to solve problems," she pointed out the obvious conflict in conduct. "I can give you some direction on what I think it may be?" Toni said before she moved the second bed-in-a-box over.

"Okay, hit me," Sigma One said.

"After 10 days, everyone's convinced you'll do the right thing, they're not convinced you'll do the right thing when the shit hits the fan," Toni explained her thinking on the matter of the others' thinking.

"Cut and run? Not hardly," Hess said after he slid the next bed set onto the pallet."At this level, the only options are to die on one's feet, die on one's knees, or die tired as you try and fail to run away. Only one of those options appeals to an American Militiaman, and maybe there is a shred of hope for not dying in that kind of failure drill."

"I know that," Toni pointed out. "I'm not the one that needs convincing, though. That's where the other SSO troops fall in."

For Toni, it was an interesting process watching Sigma One chew through the half-information she gave him to come to the necessary conclusion. Even without using her telepathy, she could tell when he reached the expected conclusion before he said a word.

His answer was a sigh, before he finished moving over the last of the bed-in-a-box units. "I really should say something against that, but survival is never a pretty business. The methods of survival in situations like this, also not at all pretty. I cannot fault them the motive."

Toni stacked the first footlocker-in-a-box on the pallet. "Would — " she cut off her question, not entirely sure if she wanted to know the answer. After two more footlockers were loaded on the pallet, she steeled herself. "Would you do it?"

"I don't know," Hess answered fairly. "Not an easy question to answer. I've always been willing to give my life to save my nation, it's a job hazard to a proper Militiaman. Give my heart for such a scenario? That's not exactly something I've considered over the haul."

"Oh, you're not thinking of it in the way they are," Toni realized, and considered that a possible opening for her.

"Pfft, hell no. I've known guys that have a clear divorce between their dick and their heart. A few of them are dead, some are in jail, roughly a third are up to their asses in alimony and child support payments, and a goodly portion I go out of my way to avoid dealing with. I just can't force myself to think in those kinds of detached terms, it's not in my mindset."

"That's either a good thing or a bad thing," Toni said. "I'd like to think it's a good thing."

"If what the SSO troops are thinking is an on-the-ground reality, it can and will be a complication, unless there comes some other way to prove to the citizenry I'm not here to pander human or cut and run when shitnado hits," Hess declared staunchly as he crab-walked the last footlocker case onto the pallet.

-x-

(60 minutes later)  
(SSO Barracks Room)

Paired 15mm box end wrenches, one in each hand, was all that Toni needed to tighten down the bolt / washer / lock-washer / nut assembly on the lower legs of the last bed. "That's the last. Mattresses?" she asked nobody in particular.

"Didn't Rasine and Asuka go for the mattresses?" Sidonia asked.

"They did, some minutes ago," Hess said before he drove another screw into the baseplate of a locker box. "Wonder what's taking them?"

"Bed mattresses might be heavier than we anticipated," Toni said. "I'll check."

Sidonia crab-walked the completed bed frame to its position and dropped it in place. "Now we wait for the mattresses. How many lockerboxes are waiting?"

"Four," Hess answered.

"Where do you want me?" Sidonia asked in response.

"Need to spread the beds wider, give more room for walk paths and, well, space for you."

Sidonia took to spacing the beds out on the eastern wall a bit more to allow the team more room, but left them an extra two bunks worth of room for expansion at a later time. Sidonia figured the team was running short right now and could always use more personnel.

From her vantage, Sidonia was able to keep an eye on Sigma One, which turned out to be a bit of an exercise in dodging him checking on her, or her actions. They dodged each other's checks for several minutes, until the trainer was inevitably caught looking in the wrong direction. "You're looking in this direction for a reason. Care to pass it on?" Sigma One prompted her.

"You're a nice guy, but this is a bit much," Sidonia prompted the protectee.

"I am a nice guy, but I am not convinced this is enough," Hess retorted. "You do remember that your official position is Secret Service Security / Protection Officer? That means, leaving aside the necessities of mercenary warfare, that you will likely be shot at quite a bit over the course of your career?"

SSO Trainer Sidonia cringed at herself for having allowed herself to forget that not-so-minor detail. "Good point, sir, but — "

" — but there is always more that can be done in appreciation of those who would risk it all for this misbegotten cause," Hess cut her rebuke short. "I will always work to defend those who would defend me, or in this case ensure you all sleep comfortably."

"You know, some of us are willing to do more than just defend you," Rasine said from just inside the door.

"Yeah, I know," the big guy declared. "To which I say it is not necessary at any level. It is I who owe you for attempting to keep me alive in coming weeks and months, You don't have to worry about thanking me in any fashion. Nor do you need to concern about survival in that regard; the more I consider it, the more I'm convinced that something shall happen, and I will probably be obligated to side against the humans. And I'm not saying that to curry favor, I am saying that because it is a principle worth fighting for."

"The hell is wrong with this?" Asuka asked nobody in particular. "You have a security detail, all ladies, and half of them are wagging their butts in your general direction. Your response? Act like a Paladin," she said tartly.

_That is not necessarily a bad thing, Asuka_, High Executor Nereus rebuked her telepathically, which reply was audible to everyone in the room.

"The High Executor is right," Sidonia picked up where Nereus left off. "How many different ways must it be said? We go there, we reduce our efforts at bettering ourselves and the world to who we sleep with."

"And you profane your efforts to build a world upon which you can live in the manner of your choosing." Hess pinned Asuka with a stare. "Life;" his gauze shifted to Rasine, "Liberty;" again his gauze shifted, this time to Sidonia. "Pursuit of happiness. If you force yourself into believing that your only way to secure those blessings is to prostitute yourselves for survival, then you have already forfeited those blessings for a pale illusion of safety and survival."

"Illusion of safety? What — " Rasine started to ask, but cut herself short. "Oh."

"Oh, yeah," Hess acknowledged her sudden understanding. "I am one man, nothing more and nothing less. I will fight long and hard for you all, but at the end of the day I can guarantee nothing. Freedom is never free. Freedom is never safe. Survival is not free, safe, nor pleasant. Never accept the promises of safety and security, always defend your life and freedoms, at the end of the day that's the only guarantee you have. Even under the most locked-down autocracy there is no assurance of safety. If you want your freedom, not just a shadow of survival, you need to plan on fighting for it. So far as I have found, there is no way to bed-hop to freedom."

Sigma One stood up and made for the door.

"Uh, sir?" Sidonia asked after he walked five paces. "Are we done here?"

"Assembly is done," Hess pointed out. "All that remains is flopping down mattresses and arranging lockerboxes." Hess stopped in the doorway, deliberately facing away from the room. "You have a choice to make. I cannot give you what you are unwilling to fight for, what you are unwilling to secure for yourselves. That choice belongs to you all, both in here and in the barracks outside."

Toni departed the room after a few moments, an action which could be either personal or professional, or both.

"He's right," Sidonia said.

"Declaring defeat, are we?" Asuka asked.

"Oh HELL no," Sidonia answered coldly. "I said I won't accept defeat, especially on this."

"He's right, but he's also half bullshitting himself. He wants something, but he believes himself honor-bound to not ask or not take advantage of his position," Sigma Two said from the door. "What's your present planning?" Clint asked after a moment.

* * *

**Author's Chapter Afterword**:

This is where things start looking and sounding conspiratorial, and for good reason. This is, by all accounts, a conspiracy either for or against Sigma One and Toni, depending on how things work out.

A critical distinction now comes into play, and a pitfall that all too many fall into in real life or in fiction. A war exists between two diametric principles that most persons cannot grasp, and erringly believe they can have both at the same time. Freedom and Protection are oddly believed to coexist, but by their nature they cannot coexist in the proper forms.

Protection, ergo, the premise that 'someone else' (usually some manner of government entity) will protect you from any listed boogeyman assumes a critical detail that most persons overlook. A government that is powerful enough to protect its citizens from any and all threats would be so massive and invasive that the ready expectation of freedom or privacy is near zero. Large governments demand total or near-total subservience, and usually use low-level hazing and intimidation to force it. Large governments also demand increasing amounts of sustenance from the 'protected' persons, which can reach a point of critical mass whereby the government demands more from the people than can be reasonably provided.

More to the point, security provided by such a massive entity is not complete, and is invariably focused on defense of the State before defense of the people. As such, the 'defense' provided to the protected masses will be haphazard or incomplete, allowing hostile entities easy access to soft targets. Another critical lapse is the common requirement of disarmament of the 'protected' mass 'for their own good' in the parlance of the protecting entity. In more common parlance, the disarmament makes it impossible for the protectees to defend themselves in scenarios where there is inadequate protection from above. The actual motive of the disarmament is much more blatant, if unstated: by having a disarmed populace, it becomes difficult to have the positions of the large entity to be challenged.

Freedom, ergo, the premise that each individual is primarily responsible for their own safety and sustenance and shall not be hindered by collective interference in exercising those duties, is the opposite side of the coin from the protectionist mindset. The ready assumption is that the involved governing entity shall attempt to provide high-level defense and low-level policing, but every individual is responsible for both their own conduct and their own safety. This also includes the ready assumption that in most such societies, the first line of defense and deterrence against foreign harassment or invasion is a populous that is capable of providing severe threat to interlopers, both foreign and domestic. This arrangement of mutual defense also has the effect of subduing attempts by the 'protecting' entity from unduly curtailing the rights and freedoms of the populous.

A position of freedom, however, does not exist without issues of its own. The first and most dissuading lapse of a position of societal freedom is that freedom cannot nor shall it attempt to guarantee anything. As such, a person born into such a society has no assuredness of place, no ready expectation of results, and no guidance as to how to proceed on his or her life path. Whereby all persons are equal in rights, not all persons are equal in outcomes, and such variance in result has a very disheartening effect on those who are either unable to elevate themselves or unmotivated to elevate themselves. When taken to the extreme, such as in the Multimage Empire or (to a lesser degree) America, the government has a modicum of power but dares not turn its hand harshly against the citizenry lest they quickly find themselves in a guerilla war for which they have no expectation of winning.

The crux of this conflict of purposes rests in the obliquely-stated position of the Secret Service Operators, whereby they espouse a desire for freedom, but their driving goal is an assuredness of position — ergo, protection from anticipated racial conflicts that may or may not come. Whether or not Toni realizes it, she has become the de facto vehicle for such desires of the Secret Service team, in that they believe the bond between SSO and Sigma One would persuade Hess to side with the nonhumans in such a conflict. In real-world practice, they are playing matchmaker to a pair that is already leaning toward each other, and who have already decided that they would stand against a race riot or race war with severe lethal force as needed. Hess, in particular, has zero love for a person who judges and acts upon the race or ethnicity of a person as opposed to their actions or speeches, though of the four Sigma Leads, it would be Victoria who is the most fervently anti-racist of the old Militiamen and will demonstrate it in coming chapters of the mainline story.

And thus the build-up to the conspiracy, as the SSO officers under Toni have convinced themselves they need to 'make or break' the posturing for her relationship to the boss, with the perilous circumstance that now Sigma Two is involved. Clint, naturally, will provide both high-level horsepower and further planning on ways to try to make or break the two, given that he has a fairly decent knowledge of Hess at the psychological and physical level and can use that information to help design methods of trial and tribulation.

**NEXT UP**: A new and very abrupt arrival into the Secret Service ranks changes the tempo and planning for the coming 'make or break' trial when she reveals some critical facts and insight about the parties involved...

* * *

**Review Replies**: One review from Dark Phoenix Jake for this chapter, which is honestly more than I expect for most of my writing and am very thankful for!

You are right, in that a lot of humanity has not and likely will not get past the fear of the unknown, but also keep in mind that the humanity shown throughout the story is not in any way homogenous future humans. Sigma has a slice of everything from Ancient Egypt and Ancient China all the way up to the Star Empires, and many groups imaginable between those benchmarks. This will be a particularly rough issue going forward for Sigma, and one that will result in violence from time to time.

Jeff Evans' design work will begin probably in the next couple of game months, after the initial settle-in is completed. The event work involved will be rather interesting for the unit classes, and the individual designs will be entertaining to see them take shape from concept to engineering to prototype. And, Jeff Evans will be the progenitor of a whole new class of unit to the MMC, a weapon of land warfare dominance to an absolutely unholy degree, with Sigma making very bloody use of it in stories to come. Yeah, I am repeating that wheeze about stories to come, but in realistic terms these things take time, and the chapters here are very narrow-focused.

Thank you for the review! Keep 'em coming!

* * *

**The Gripe Sheet**:

No gripes from the last chapter. Thanks to **Takeshi Yamato**, **Sieben Nightwing**, and **Necroblade** for keeping my prose straight.

* * *

**Footnotes**:

No footnotes for this chapter.

* * *

**Included Works**:

Included works are the same as prior chapters.


	5. Hot LZ

(Sigma Mercenaries, Story 0002: To Train The Trainers)  
(Chapter 5: Hot LZ)

(29 March, Magi Year 14408 / Year SL 8838, 0550 Hours Local Time)  
(METARgraphic Training room, Administration Building basement level, Base Boarhound, Terra 232)  
(Day 12 of Campaign)

"We are gathered here at this ungodly hour to do a simulated forced entry hostage rescue," Clint announced to the gathered persons — nine in total, including Nereus who decided to watch the action since he was already awake and didn't have anything else planned for this time slot.

"Oh, this will be fun," Victoria said in a tone that clearly stated she was not looking forward to this session.

"Here's the scoop. Two hostages, husband and wife missionaries captured by generic non-ethnically-typed tangos, demanding 1 million in ransom for their safe return. Assumption is that the hostages are dead if they pay and dead if they don't pay, so the family has hired us on to bring them the hotels back alive or the tangos back dead. This is not a sanctioned mission by the local landlords, so assume that any person under arms in our AO is hostile."

"That will be fairly standard fare going forward, not all countries will accept the activity of mercs in their territory, and any nation that has not signed the Mercenary Accords can treat us as hostile enemy combatants," Hess cautioned the rest of the operators.

"Anyway, we're running this scenario under the ruleset that ComStar has been kind enough to provide schematics of the AO, so this is where we get nasty," Clint waved at the briefing board Virtue had been kind enough to set up for this simulation. "Our operations assume we are raiding one building with positive knowledge of the presence of the hostages, but this building is part of a terrorist complex and we need to plan to combat them at length. Normally we would go in with attack helos and raze any building where the hostages specifically are not but the enemy is, consider that a doctrine point going forward."

"Approved, assuming we have hard intel on the hostages' locations," Hess said. "Psionic verification is ample."

"Works for me, boss-man," Clint acknowledged the point. "Anyway, the building in question is a contiguous room building, effectively three quadrahedral buildings mashed together with makeshift doors between them. Hostages will be somewhere in here, along with an assortment of tangos armed with non-specific arms and likely third-world jerkwater or second-world cannon-fodder gearsets. Shouldn't have to get too creative to put them down, follow?"

"Got it," Clarence said.

"Once we start the party, we will have multiple recurrent lateral engagement zones to deal with. Exact method and madness on that issue is to be determined. We need to get the hostages out and cleared before we determine exactly how we want to stiff the locals, follow?"

"Good copy," Sigma One acknowledged the point. Toni simply nodded to the point.

"Any questions?" There were none. "Teams will be Commander and SSO for the day, four elements. Experimental weapons are in play, the boss has a MDBS-07D, I will be carrying in a Glock 18 as a sidearm. If you hear unusual fire, verify your targets before you shoot, clear?"

"Yes sir!" the entire team answered by rote.

"Break down and get ready for it, people."

-x-

(Elsewhere in Existence…)  
(Town of Two Hawks, Northern Reaches (Janoshire), Kingdom of Havon)

Lady Neinke Honoratia silently cursed her stubbornness for not having taken this trip by horse, instead she had taken passage to the town of Two Hawks, which was still a not-insignificant overland distance from her objective. On the other hand, the guide she would need for the last leg of the trip was in town, so her arrival here even without horse was prescient.

Apparently, it was also untoward enough that she had drawn attention at the outskirts of town. "Are you one of the Knights?" a guy sitting outside the saloon asked.

"I am. Lady Neinke Honoratia. You are?"

"Ralvan of the Western Winds," the guy stood up. "My letter," he offered the Knight the documentation she expected from the guide.

"Excellent," Neinke read over the document and found everything in order. "Do we begin immediately?"

"The travel is not far," Ralvan said. "I have a cart waiting. I will take you to the end of the access road you will need to follow, but I am not a trained combatant. The rest is on you, milady."

Neinke nodded. "I expected as much. Lead the way, if you will?" she asked. Technically she was speaking to a plebian, not a noble, and thus there was no need for deference, but Neinke found that a little civility went a long way, even with commoners.

"Here," Ralvan headed around back to a waiting team of draft horses and a cart, then came around the corner at the reins of the team. "Please," he indicated the teamster's seat.

Neinke had no trouble climbing up to the bench, even in her 65 pounds of armor and arms. Some older, magicked armor sets weighed less and afforded vastly improved protection, but being a Knight Eloquence Journeywoman, she was highly unlikely to lay hands on such magicked equipment for many years. Such was the test of the Knights Eloquence: those that survived their recruiting and Journeywoman postings occasionally made it to the Master's ranks, and with it the right to use the best and most ancient gear from the Kingdom's history. Occasionally, even some of the Masters could fit into that ancient gear, which appeared to be made for less stout persons.

Ralvan was quiet as they made the short journey through town and onward to the north. He broke the silence after they passed the last house and were out of earshot. "You can see the results of her actions to the larboard," the teamster said.

Neinke had seen several fields completely barren, despite being turned and planted in what appeared to be good order. "Deliberate?"

"Very much so. Those that refuse her extortions do not profit in their labors. Those failed souls either leave the area or they pay properly and in full in the next year." Ralvan changed courses onto a second set of carter's trails, now headed more northeast. "We are approaching where I stop," he noted after a short period on this new trail.

"What can you tell me about the witch?" Neinke asked.

"Physically she is unimpressive," Ralvan said. "I do not know what manner of combat witchcraft she knows, and if you'll excuse my flippancy, I have tried my best to avoid provoking her."

Neinke snickered briefly. "One cannot fault you for trying to avoid such wrath, teamster."

He brought the cart to a halt next to a stand of trees. "I will wait here until sundown. The footpath ahead of us on the right is the trail that leads to her front door. Be cautious, Lady Honoratia."

"The Knights Eloquence thank you for your assistance in this matter." Neinke dropped down and settled her cuirass, then adjusted her riding cloak. "We will meet again."

-x-

Clint slapped a breaching frame on the door, switched it on, and turned away from the door. "BREACHING!" He shouted a bare moment before the breaching charge detonated and disintegrated the door into sound and splinters.

Hess took a moment to shake off the blast from the breaching frame, then turned toward as Clarence and Asuka made their entry after the pointman and his guard. The first wave of shooting was done before Hess entered, so he simply held aim downrange into the next building section to prevent any unseen enemies from getting the drop on the entry team.

"Clear! Ready to go?" Clint asked after the teams reformed into their respective elements.

"Go!" Hess ordered, aiming left with Clarence on his right and aiming forward.

"Hotels identified! Two marks dead ahead!" Clarence reported after they crossed the divider into the next room.

"Tango left!" Toni shouted before she drilled the semi-concealed opposition fighter with two pairs of 5.56 M855. He tried to remain standing, tried to bring his weapon up, but his resistance to the coring out of his heart and left lung was only a half-second before he collapsed to the ground, unmoving.

The entry into the third room area was handled on both sides of the entryway, given the wide gap in the entryway, and Hess had the point on the left side. On his side, he had only one threat party in the area, so he fired on the hostage-taker from seven yards with the double-barreled combat shotgun MDBS-07D. The two barrels of buckshot put some 35 of the 36 pellets from the two shells into his torso and right arm, an off-center pattern due to Sigma One firing while the shotgun was still in motion and aimed at his right ribs.

"Clear right!" Clint announced.

"Clear left!" Hess completed the traditional verification.

"Two hostages!" Clarence approached the two bound subjects and used a pair of wire cutters to clear their zip-tie handcuffs.

"Thank you, thank you mister!" the man said. Hess considered it a bit disconcerting how realistic they were, but he also figured that a nanomachine and holography simulation being driven by an artificial intelligence entity would be able to get it close to, if not entirely realistic.

"Worry about thanks after we get you out, mister," Clarence responded while he was clipping the zip-ties on the wife's restraints.

"Victoria, Sidonia, evacuate hotels to the vehicles and man the fifty-cal. Clint, Clarence, emplace and arm motion-sensor claymores at the windows. We have maybe a full minute before we're up to our asses in tangos!"

-x-

The feeling of voluntarily walking up to the abode of a witch was highly unsettling to Neinke, but as these things happened it was equal parts Knightly duty and public service. Still, it did not reduce the hazard of the task, and this was not exactly a safe job to begin with, so…

Without much in the way of an operational angle or other hook to do the job, Neinke figured she would just ruck up to the door and knock. Such a plan had precisely zero subtlety to it, but she figured a knight stomping around this area was likely to have neither stealth nor plausible deniability to begin with.

One knock, then two knocks, and Neinke waited a few moments as would be civil before she cracked the door to see if the structure was occupied. "Is anyone home?" Neinke asked after a moment of nothing major being visible except the glow of a fire.

"Come in," a lady's voice answered. "Come in, come in," she said more invitingly.

"If you'll excuse the intrusion, I was looking for someone," Neinke said, playing a hunch. "Maybe you could assist?" Lady Honoratia asked as she caught sight of at least some of what she expected to see. Oddly, there was less of the prototypical witch equipment and resources, but the main cauldron was present and — rather frighteningly — there were a large amount of sealed jars with blood in them, by the labels taken from animals and even some humans?

"Something I can help with, lady Knight?" the occupant of the residence asked. Neinke was not hugely surprised that the occupant was female, but was very much surprised that she was roughly of the same age as herself and rather stunning of looks. At the minimum, she could have passed for nobility in all but dress.

"Aye, am trying to source and quell a cause of crop blight and tree blight in the area. Can you assist with such a hunt?"

"Already have an idea where it is coming from," the witch said. "Harald the Blackrobe, he lives in a tower that is magically sealed a couple miles north of here. Practices an absolutely invidious art of Dark Geomancy. I can get you into the tower, but I cannot help you against him."

"You would turn on another practitioner so readily?" Neinke asked, instantly suspicious.

The witch snorted. "He has given me no cause to be loyal to him. His desire to create monoliths is, as you have seen, poisoning the lands in this area. It is hard to be a Blood Teller without a fresh stock of blood, and blood is hard to come by when the game animals go elsewhere for food," she explained at length. "Your quest to end the blight goes through him, and as it happens, makes things easier for me."

The witch sounded sincere enough, Neinke figured, and if she was being truthful, this was a golden opportunity to take down an even nastier foe than just a witch. "Very well, to what fee may I offer for your assistance in tracking him down?"

"Just your hand, Knight, kindly hold it out over the cauldron and we will begin." Neinke pulled her mailed glove and held it out in the requested position. "This will sting briefly, but here shortly you will feel nothing untoward." The witch took Neinke's left wrist in her hand, and produced a blue needle with which she lightly stabbed the meaty part of her palm at the base of the thumb. After a moment, the witch inverted Neinke's hand and worked the strike point to cause blood to drip down into the cauldron. The blood drip frothed the cauldron until the waters within turned from a murky black-brown to a green hue, then to a rose color.

Neinke noticed quickly that her body was beginning to become unresponsive, and at an accelerating pace she lost first her ability to stand, then her ability to move her arms, and lastly any control over her body except for sight and breathing.

"Perfect, the paralysis formula I used leaves a person conscious, breathing, and aware. You will get to experience your fate in its entirety, Knight." The witch used a dipper to ladle out a portion of the contents of the cauldron, then simply upended the brew onto the floor. "And, better still, your own blood will lead the way into unknown lands, likely where the denizens therein shall shred you apart, leaving no evidence that you were ever here."

Neinke heard a knock at the door, then the sound of the hinges groaning. "I take it she is immobilized?" Neinke recognized the voice of her contact from town, Ralvan.

"She is, and the Dimension Door will be open momentarily. Give me a hand casting her through into this new world."

Neinke could not protest their ministrations in any fashion, nor could she resist. All she could see was a hole in time and space that the witch and the turncoat had elevated her to parallel to, and she was unceremoniously shoved through the portal.

-x-

"Two, break right!" Hess ordered.

"Go go!" Clint shouted at Moira as he fired right-forward on a moving tango with an AK product in hand. Part of Sigma Two's first burst missed, the second burst was all on target and he went down screaming.

"Team 3, suppressing fire up the middle!" Hess flipped a flashbang into the next room to stun the enemy as the teams shifted around.

"Warning warning! Anomaly detected on the range — " Virtue began, but was cut off by the sound of a person-on-person impact sound that immediately drew all attention to Clint. Someone had landed on Clint, and whoever it was definitely was not dressed as part of the simulation. From what Sigma One could see, it was a lady, wearing some kind of a heavy tunic, likely a padded / scaled tunic given the way she rattled on impact, and a sword.

"Augh! Compromised! Compromised!" Clint shouted after he recovered from the momentary stun of being landed on. In staying true to what was going on, he pulled his sidearm and aimed over the interloper's hip to loose suppressing fire from his Glock 18.

"Person unidentified! Recommend abort simulation!" Virtue said.

"Negative!" Clint answered. "Shit happens in battle! This may be weird shit — " he paused to unload a burst into a guy approaching him — "but shit can happen! Train to fight through any of it!"

"Confirmed, we continue the exercise," Hess ordered. "Team 2, extract the mystery arrival, drag her out if needed. Team 4, enter and sweep to point to provide assistance for extraction," Sigma One concluded. "Team 3, suppressing fire right!" Hess ordered at the same time he peeked around his corner and laid down a hail of shotgun rounds toward the left-hand entrance into the other part of the combined three rooms.

Clarence and Asuka moved forward, Clarence dropped to prone with the M249 to provide a base of fire, Asuka took a knee next to him to provide secondary fire and security for the LMG. As Clarence began his fire run, he caught sight of one of the simulated enemies trying to get in close on Sigma One, and smiled at the categoric mistake the 'gang-banger' had made in so doing: never get close to the Militiamen in CQB.

-x-

Neinke had no earthly clue where she had landed, where the witch had dropped her, and she was less than thrilled about the paralysis she was now suffering, but she had quickly found out it was a very noisy environment. The few exposures she had to arquebus were pale echoes of the raw noise being generated by this handful of troops engaged in some very-fast-paced gunplay, even despite her presence.

Neinke had nearly no control over her voluntary musculature, but her eyes were still functional and she could barely breathe, so she could see, hear, and think clearly. She could feel each round detonated and sent on its way, some of those rounds even glowed in the dark as they passed downrange. The sheer aural abuse of it wrecked her hearing quickly, the echoes of the shots were just too much for someone whose loudest experience in days prior was a shout, and months prior was a single cannon shot at a testing range.

The speed was the most frightening part to her. From what she could tell, in the few moments she had been in this new locale, hundreds of rounds had been fired both by those nearby her and by the opposing force on the far side of the rooms. The fire continued, without the need to reload as would a common Arquebus, and though she knew of weapons that could be fired two or three times in succession, the sight of dozens of glowing streaks headed in both directions, each streak likely a bullet, was both curious to her and very unsettling.

As the man she landed on clamored out from under her, her head involuntarily lolled to the left and had a good look at a very large guy with a lady in close proximity, both with some very unusual long arms. The lady was firing diagonally across the room, the guy more forward until some kind of opposition fighter approached him close. A mere twitch of his large gun, a single shot at very close range, and most of the enemy's head was sheared off as a red mist and paste from the lower jaw upwards. The muzzle blast from that gun was rather frightening, the recoil even more so as the brutish double-barreled gun drove him backwards noticeably in the semi-dark environment. The disintegration of most of the opposition fighter's head was simply a sickening exclamation point on something that was already very worrisome to her, so...

The next few moments were even more shocking to Neinke, having been party to multiple campaigns over the years she thought she had seen the best of the nastiest conduct in close, but this engagement was a lesson. The big guy on the opposite side of the room twisted the large double-barrel gun around to his left with one hand, resting it on some manner of sling, while the other hand went down to something on his hip — maybe a pistol? It looked like no manner of pistol she had seen in the past, but he handled it in the same fashion. His timing was prescient: as he stepped back from the corner cover position he was in, another foe circled around the corner and right into the big guy. They both appeared momentarily unprepared for the encounter, but the big guy won the speed race and simply threw the foe into the wall to his left by sheer strength, where he crumpled into a heap at the soldier's feet. A second enemy tried coming around the corner, but the lady behind and to the right of the big soldier shot this newcomer in the chest, which caused him to collapse forward. A third enemy came up behind the recently deceased, and this time was slightly ready but not fast enough to outdo the massive soldier, who fired a single shot from the (confirmed) pistol into his face and caused that interloper to drop straight down into a heap directly behind the deceased enemy's comrade. With the immediate threat resolved, the soldier turned back to the foe on the ground to his left and shot four times, two in the chest, one in the arm, and once in the head, likely to ensure a kill.

As Neinke watched the large soldier and the smaller lady fire laterally across the area toward an unseen threat, something or someone began dragging her away from the direction of the enemy advance. Or was it the oncoming foes to the soldiers she was near were the good persons and those she had landed on were enemies? Given the sheer chaos of the battle, she was unsure who was who. After a few moments, she could tell (barely) that it was two persons, each with a hand hooked in her cuirass and backplate, their other hand freed to continue the battle with their strange pistols and rapid-fire arquebus. The shooting continued as she was dragged past a guy in the prone position and a lady, both with rapid-fire weapons that were spitting an inordinate amount of the self-glowing bullets in the general direction of the advance, but more curiously were also flinging aside some kind of copper or brass byproduct of the use of the firearm?

"BOSS! WE'RE CLEAR!" One of the two persons dragging Neinke shouted.

The lady by the big guy flipped an object into the far room. "FRAG OUT!" A short breath later, the entire area rattled to an explosion louder than a cannon shot.

After the blast, the big guy flipped another similar object toward the enemy line of advance. "WILLY PETE OUT!" He shouted, then turned to jog away from the enemy. As he passed the lady in attendance to his position, he clapped her on the shoulder, which appeared to be a signal for her to join him? The two soldiers continued past where she was being dragged until they reached the next logical point of coverage and took up new fighting positions.

-x-

"CLARENCE! LEAPFROG!" Hess shouted before he did a fast reload on the MDBS-07 shotgun. The method was the same process as that of a fast-load for a G3, FAL, or AK product, where the latch was at the base of the receiver and could be unlocked by sweeping a fresh magazine against the lock, then he used the fresh mag to dislodge the spent magazine. Once the double-column drum-feed replacement was in place, he slapped the bolt release to chamber new rounds.

"MOVING!" Clarence clamored to his feet and bounded backwards, to where his wife was waiting with her AR-15 HBAR, then braced against the doorframe of the exterior building exit to provide covering fire as Clint and Moira continued bringing out the impromptu hostage. Victoria, not being a primary combatant among the unit, had not yet decided on a more permanent weapons platform for her use going forward, but was leaning toward something of a DMR in the 5.56 category.

Sigma One braced the MDBS-07 shotgun against the doorframe headed into the structure for the entry chamber, tucked in close, and cut loose with the semiautomatic monstrosity. Fifteen shots later (30 shells downrange), the gun locked open on two empty chambers. "I'M OUT! RELOADING!" he shouted after he turned away from the corner for Toni to take up the suppression into the prior room.

Clarence held his fire, given there were allies in the area and Toni was putting down a solid base of fire with her ACR, so he was off the trigger for the time being. Clint and Moira dragged the mystery arrival past him, Clint still covering backwards with the absurdly noisy and not very effective Glock 18, Moira covering with her XD Tactical .40, and the rather unsettling sight of the lady that landed on Clint being able to look around but apparently had no muscle control other than eyes and shallow breathing? Sigma Three easily saw the eyes moving around, trying to understand what was going on, but apparently she had no further control of herself?

The sound of a door breaking in the entry chamber changed the name of the game again. "CONTACT LEFT!" Clarence shouted before he brought his Light Machine Gun around on target. The new tango only fired one round at Toni (a miss) before Clarence hammered him with eight or nine rounds of 5.56mm. With the first one down, Clarence kept his sights on the left-hand doorway to suppress any further tangos coming from that direction, and so they did: inside of twenty seconds, Clarence had a respectable pile of bodies just inside the doorframe.

"CONTACT RIGHT!" Victoria shouted, firing just past her husband's shoulder at a second entryway that had been made dynamically by the OpFor to circumvent the WP grenade Hess had laid down. "HESS! LEAPFROG!"

This time, Hess yanked a frag grenade and flipped it around the corner into the second main room area. "FRAG OUT!" he shouted a moment before it detonated. After that was done, Hess pulled another WP grenade, armed it and flipped it through the doorway to burn anyone still alive in the room and smoke anyone else. "WILLY PETE OUT! MOVING!" Again, as the big guy moved past Toni, he gave her a clap on the shoulder to inform her it was clear to move.

-x-

Neinke watched the lady with the lighter, long-barrel arquebus rotated her weapon to a strange angle, canted inward at the top, and sighted through a small piece of glass toward the unseen enemies on the right. Each shot of the rifle, so close to where she was being dragged clear of the battlefield, rattled her chest and bones in a way that not even the pounding of the Kingdom's 12-pounder cannons could make her feel. A moment before the big guy would have crossed the path of the weapon, the lady aimed her rifle down to the ground as he passed through the door and presumably outside the structure (but still in another structure?)

"Clint, Moira, move to rearguard, I'll finish up extraction," the big guy ordered, which was barely audible courtesy of their communication relays over the sheer aural abuse of the prior minutes. The lady of the two who were dragging her clear of the structure handed Neinke's cuirass off to the big guy, who proceeded to continue dragging her clear of the engagement zone alone as the guy and two ladies resumed fire on the enemy line of advance through the structure. The guy in the new rearguard cut loose with some kind of pistol that showered the brass hulls all over the place, but the result cut down two enemies and wounded a third, the last of which was eliminated by the second lady (Moira?) who shot him twice in the head when on the ground from a range of mere feet.

The guy at the door flipped a new device into the door. "NAIL GRENADE OUT!"

The lady assigned to work with him tossed in her own device, similar to the ones that the big guy had used. "WILLY PETE OUT!"

Neinke noticed that she had crossed some kind of warning line on the ground courtesy of being dragged out of the area, and with it the room lit up artificially from some kind of objects on the roof of the building that the building is within?

"Simulation terminated, all mission objectives completed and all personnel theoretically extracted," an unrecognized lady's voice declared.

_Fighting of that nature, of that brutality, that was a simulacrum to them? I can not imagine what real battle would be as played out in these lands_, Neinke thought behind a face that was otherwise passive because she had no control over it.

"HOLY SHIT boss man!" The small guy that had been prior dragging her out shouted. "That was way the hell more intense than I expected!"

"Nereus, spare a moment to lay hands upon our new arrival?" The big guy asked. "I don't think she was paralyzed as part of the exercise."

"Can do, bring her over to one of these benches," someone prior unheard said through their communication relay system.

"Stand by," and Neinke was set down on the smooth stone ground to rest, until someone picked her up in a cradling carry that she did not expect.

_Has to be the big guy_, she thought, and with the first couple steps her head shifted enough to see it was indeed the big guy carrying her. She quickly noticed that he had an unusual walking gait, as if he had trouble with one of his legs? Every second or fourth step was uneven, almost stilted, but he certainly had no problem carrying a lady knight in medium armor and with a sword! Such was rendered even more interesting when she realized that he had not doffed any of his combat gear, which she suspected weighed more than hers.

"Man alive! A couple of those encounters were crap-your-drawers scary!" the lady that was in attendance with the big guy said. " 'Specially that one where the three got in close against us! How did you do that so fast?"

"We will need to review the exercise in detail. Virtue, begin parsing the recordings for lesson material," the big guy said.

"Working on visuals and modeling at this time, should be ready in 90 seconds," 'Virtue' answered. So far as Neinke could guess, the voice was omnipresent around the room?

Neinke jolted a bit roughly when the big guy set her down on some form of table, and momentarily she was overcome with a wave of panic when she realized that she was in a room of strangers and had no way to defend her virtue if things happened. On the other hand, magical paralysis made for a good extenuating circumstance…

"Your turn, High Executor," the big guy said.

A different man stepped up to the table and took a knee next to her. In stark contrast to the tan-color clothing and green armor of the soldiers that had extracted her from the simulacrum battle, this man was dressed in white vestments with a simple broadsword that had a light blue blade. He placed a hand over her forehead for a moment, then pulled it back. "You called it, Hess. Paralysis, in this case grossly incompetent paralysis that only prevents most musculature control. Her eyes are still mobile, even if the rest of her is not."

"That has got to be frustrating, to see what is around you but be unable to move against it," the lady with the slender firearm said.

"Any one of us skilled in the magic arts can clear it, it is so low-level," the 'High Executor' commented.

"And here I was initially thinking this was some manner of actual combat trauma," the big guy said.

"I will see to this," Nereus said. He rested both hands on her right arm. "_**Holy order of the Ocean Sword, channel unseen light and remove the magicks thus laid hands upon**_," he chanted, which brought to Neinke's mind that he might be a paladin? Confirmation: "Variation on my old Paladin skills, I can also annul most magicks on an object or person, including paralysis spells."

"Kinda useful skills, but I know I am nowhere near virtuous enough to cut it for the ranks of the Paladin," the smaller guy amongst the combatants said.

-x-

"Speaking of cutting it, how did that Glock 18 handle?" Hess asked, pretty well convinced he already knew what the answer would be.

"Twenty minutes ago, I walked in that door a Glock Fanboy. Right now, as much as I hate having to admit it, you win," Clint half-whined. "It's perfect for spitting distance, throws up a hell of a lot of lead very quickly, but after about six rounds of one-handed fire you're firing an ADA piece."

"Pay up, sucker," Clarence waved at Clint, who handed off a $50 American bill to Sigma Three.

"I believe one gun critic called small, fast-firing pieces like that 'telephone booth guns' in practice, mainly because you'd have to be in telephone booth distances to reliably put rounds on target," Hess said. "Same story with the Mac-10 and Tec-9 sub-gun pistols, and to a larger degree with the IMI mini-uzi and micro-uzi. Maybe we could have the engineering group tone down the cyclic rate and rebalance the weight to make it more controllable?"

"Yeah, good luck with that," Clint held up the unloaded and locked open Glock 18. The Glock 18/L model was only slightly longer than a standard Glock 17, which meant it was physically smaller than most other pistols and only a short hint larger than the XD Tactical pistols in common issue to Sigma. "Not much there to rebalance."

"Some units of Negaverse Armored Infantry issue the Glock 18 or the Mini-Uzi for backup weapons," Nereus pointed out.

Clint shrugged. "Might revisit it after I qualify for powered armor? I think I've learned my lesson for now."

The door opened up to the training hall. "Ah, this," Hess groused after he had a good look at the entrants. "Allowing myself to completely forget about that fracas was not good."

"Need a hand?" Clarence asked.

"Backup, if nothing else, would be welcomed. I don't particularly trust this bunch," which was fairly strong condemnation from Hess.

As Sigma One and Sigma Three walked away from their mystery guest, they failed to notice that she was slowly regaining the ability to control her major muscle groups…

-x-

It took Neinke another minute or so to regain enough of her movement control to do anything, but once she had it back, she was quick to sit up. And then promptly overbalanced on an unsteady sense of motion, which caused her to flop over the other direction and toward the lady with the slender rifle. The soldier was fast enough to catch Neinke before she fell off the side of the bench, which was welcomed for the assistance but not for the embarrassment of the matter.

"Whoa, hold up, you're moving too fast," the man in the white vestments declared. "Paralysis magicks can distort your sense of balance, don't move fast until it clears."

"How did — " she bit her sentence off, not knowing if such a question would be rude in this company.

"In close-quarters wizardry combat, paralysis attacks are a favored tactic for direct combat: get in close, paralyze an enemy, then either eliminate them or capture and secure," the guy in white and blue said.

"If I may ask, sir, where am I?" Neinke asked the wizard (?), partially to sate her own curiosity, partially to understand her environs, and partially as reflexive reaction to the rather bizarre turn of the day's events.

"You are in a military fortress on a different world from where you were yesterday," he answered simply, though Neinke easily recognized the shift in demeanor toward the end of his sentence.

The change in demeanor and posture for the lady and the small guy told an even worse tale. "This could get nasty," the lady said, looking in the direction of the big guy.

"Oh yeah, these punks have no clue," the smaller guy in armor (the one with the bizarre pistol) said.

"Be ready for it," the guy in white said.

Neinke knew this was not her conflict, but found herself tensed up just the same. She also focused in on what she could hear, which wasn't much from the moving picture past the big guy, but hearing him was simple in these confines.

-x-

Hess waited for the video record of their malfeasance to cut out before he said anything. Once the picture was off, he turned to their lead and pinned him under his gaze. "Explain yourself," Sigma one ordered bluntly.

"I was executing the edicts of the Church in trying to remove heretics, degenerates, homosexuals, and fornicators from our ranks to prevent damnation," Montgomery answered immediately. Hess considered it a perfectly worthwhile canned response, except for one minor detail:

"And you do so in a nation that does not recognize the temporal authority of the Church, is my assessment correct?"

"Whether or not you recognize it, that authority exists. Bow to the will of the Church, or be broken by it," Montgomery said.

"Cute," Hess said. "The problem with your justification is twofold. Primarily, legally I am not allowed to care what authority the Church may or may not have, as the Protectorate does not recognize it as legally justified to do any of the shit you intended, nor does the Protectorate recognize the crimes you listed as actual crimes."

"A morally depraved dodge with a hint of vulgarity thrown in for good measure," Montgomery tried to deflect by way of ad hominem attack.

"Charlie, you have not heard me get salty yet," Hess adroitly crammed the attempt to deflect. "Secondarily, from a personal standpoint I could not care less about the policy or edicts of the Church to which you subscribe, with the possible exception of expending effort on caring less. The reason for that is historical, and I am going to throw out a guess right now and say that you are probably from the area of the 15th or 16th centuries Anno Domini, likely related to clergy in that time?" Montgomery flinched at the question, which told Hess he had the right of it.

"My relations are of no concern to you, but you need be aware that those relations are high up in the Church."

"A proper answer, and good nonetheless; if I am to remind a Church of the limitations of its power outside its sphere of influence, best it be a worthy target for Protectorate steel. But that is a theoretical problem for a future that may or may not happen, solely dependent on how much butthurt echoes from today forward. No, today's problem is you five," Hess waved a finger across the five. "You five have done yourselves a very good run at a Darwin Award, given your performance last night in attempt to 'purify by pain' three persons who had otherwise committed no crimes. At least five of your actions are offenses for which I can have you deported from this world and the last two are fairly significant stockade time. This creates a problem, however: as one of the major tenets of the Inquisition was the expulsion, suppression, subsumation or elimination of undesirables and nonconformists, any action I take simply echoes those failed policies."

"Go ahead, punish me for being righteous," Montgomery dared him.

"I do not punish a man for being righteous, but I will punish a man for conspiring torture or death over a difference of belief," Hess shut down his personal excuse for the conduct. "I will give you all five days in the stockade to ruminate on the value of your beliefs as compared to the value of the beliefs of others. At the end of those five days, if you can understand the lesson inherent to the laws of the Protectorate, you will know why I have chosen to venerate no religion above others. If you cannot grasp the true forms of freedom, we will discuss finding you an appropriate world to live upon where you may not threaten Protectorate interests or citizens again."

"I will not need five days to understand that you are a sanctimonious jackal, utterly unfit to shepherd yourself, much less this nation and planet," Montgomery said sharply.

"I strongly expected you would say that," Hess said. "Five days, kid. Think long and hard, decide if you wish to quit the world or if you can handle other people being free of your stringent biases and controls. I ask no further of you, just that decision point. You five are remanded to the stockade forthwith, to reconvene at my office five days hence at this hour to conclude the matter. Dismissed."

-x-

The big guy and the gunner from the ground stood and watched as the group was escorted out of the room. After the door closed behind them, the two turned to return.

"I will admit, I expected that to end badly," the lady soldier said. "Good thing the kid was smart and didn't start any further conflict."

"For the record, I am betting right now that punk will not learn the error of his ways," the smaller soldier said.

"No take," the big guy answered the wager as he approached. "It is hard to realize an error in thinking when you have already convinced yourself of the absolute righteousness of your intention to torture someone on a mere difference of opinion. Thus, in five days I will be forced to deport him, maybe one or two others in his posse, if they are unwilling to accept the natural rights of others."

"Feh," the man in the white vestments said. "A classic case of 'do what my book says or I kill you'. Inquisition pukes, unyielding to a fault."

"10-4 to that, High Executor," the big guy answered. Neinke considered that their English was very good, very understandable to her ear, but the content was filled with idiom and some words that made no sense to her. English was a mostly-dead language in her homeland, but still practiced in a few forms at the academic level. And to now stand in a land that practiced it as primary language! She considered that her enjoyment of the language in an academic setting was now vindicated in use.

"So, this leaves one interesting thread, and the review of the training exercise," the lady with the slender weapon said.

"Indeed," the big guy said. "Beforehand, though, one thing." he pressed a object on his equipment hauberk until it made a faint click, and something on his gear made a 'beep' noise. "Virtue, Sigma One, please relay to Star Colonel Storme that I need to discuss with her the near-inevitability of deporting one or more of those attempted Inquisitors, should take ten to twenty for the discussion of procedure."

Something on his gear beeped after a moment of silence. "Sigma One, Storme, I copy your last. I have an open at 1600, I expected this problem, just not this soon," a lady's voice answered from his gear. Neinke figured it possibly some form of communications device? Magic, perhaps? For certain, they had wizards on hand, remote communications were entirely possible.

Again, the big guy pressed some manner of activation sigil on his hauberk. "Storme, Sigma One, copy all. Murphy's Law strikes again: problems occur when they are ready, and we are not."

"The Gods' honest truth in one sentence, Sigma One. Storme is out."

"And thus, the great mystery of the morning: the lady in armor that dropped in on Clint during our shoot exercise. So, where to begin?" the big guy asked.

For all that the environment was rather frightening, and the company she now found herself in easily more lethal than anything she ever expected to see in her lifetime, her intuition was not waving a flag of warning about them. Her intuition of emotion was not sensing anything untoward from their ranks, which she found surprising. Even, after a few moments in close proximity to them, she could sense much about them: the small guy was tired and sore, the lady with the slender rifle was alternating between curiosity toward the new arrival and anticipation of reviewing the exercise? The gunner from the floor with the large weapon was partially curious and partially bored, similar to the four ladies with the matched short arquebus (the ladies that had stood by the four varied combatants and supported their primary effort?), though theirs was wariness of the new arrival and curiosity.

The big guy, oddly enough, was feeling something she did not expect: serenity. Curiosity toward the new arrival, a given, some lingering annoyance pertaining to the administrative punishment he just meted out, even a bit of fatigue, but serenity most of all. Especially given his exertions in battle, she did not expect calmness from any of them, save the guy in the white vestments who did not appear to be an actual participant in the matter.

Thus, given that she did not sense anything inherently hazardous from them, and they stood at an effective impasse, Neinke decided to make the first overture.

-x-

"If I may, sir, I am Lady Neinke Honoratia, 91st of the Knights Eloquence of the Kingdom of Havon," the lady declared herself.

"Thank you for the introduction, Lady Honoratia. I am Command Administrator Erich Hess of the Protectorate of Sigma. I have theoretical reign over this world, though not actual reign in practice."

"A king building a new kingdom from a collapsed nation, in short," High Executor Nereus explained when it became obvious that his introduction had confused her.

"That would make you an ascended Prince?" she asked.

Hess grimaced. "Not really. I am commissioned by higher powers to take control of this world and bring order to chaos. The method is, as the High Executor explained, building a nation from the ashes of the failed state that used to control this world. In terms of noble peerage, I have no rank, social or title."

Such a declaration obviously confused the lady Knight. "Why would…" she cut her sentence short. "Excuse me, sir — Highness — it is not my place to question such matters."

"Somebody that explicitly doesn't question the Technical Analyst? That is a first," Clarence said.

"Ah, that was a failure of decorum on my part, I believe further introductions are in order for the Lady Knight in our presence," Hess said, working through what he knew of civil practice. "Pointman forward," Hess said, which caused Clint to step forward. "Administrator Clint Jamieson, military training and doctrine is his area of command. He is the reason why you landed on a person, not a hard floor."

"Greetings," Clint said with a nod. "No worries on landing on me, I am mostly uninjured and you didn't have any control over it."

Hess pointed to Neinke's left. "Administrator Clarence Williams, Business Operations and Protectorate Finance are his spheres of control."

"A pleasure, Lady Neinke," Clarence said with a nod.

Hess again pointed, this time to his immediate right. "Administrator Victoria Williams, Personnel Management, Housing and Urban Development are her duties."

"Welcome to the Protectorate," Victoria said.

"And, this one is a snag, I'm not completely assured how to introduce an Executor," Hess said.

"I'll take this," Nereus said, much to Hess' relief on the subject.

-x-

"Milady, I am High Executor Nereus, Ambassador and Guardian to the Protectorate from the Order of the Executors. With the exception of yourself, I am the only person in the room of noble peerage, formerly a ranking Warlord of the Dynasty Star Empire, what would be analogous to a Viscount in normal peerage. You do have such a title in common esteem in your lands?" the wizard asked.

"Yes, sir, there are some 36 Viscounts in the Kingdom," Neinke replied. "You said formerly, though, sir?"

"Yes, formerly," Nereus answered. "To join the Order of the Executors, I was required to recuse all title, possessions, rank, and status amongst my home Empire. Through training and duty, an Executor is ranked above the Emperors, for our word is law, and our judgment above all national consideration."

"And even I, if under orders, am obligated to the judgment of the Executors," Hess explained. "I'll spare you the complexities of the political situation in the here and now. Time enough for that at a later date. The short version is that High Executor Nereus is here as a guarantee against interference from certain parties, and to assist in the building of the Protectorate."

"Boss, movement on your six," the lady that was in constant attendance to Hess said. "Front door of the shoot house."

The big guy simply twisted his head a slight bit, nowhere near enough to actually directly examine the threat, but maybe he was using a trick of visual acuteness to see the new arrival? Some sailors said that the easiest way to sense motion was to use the outer edge of your vision, not the center. "Lady Neinke, do you know her?" Hess pointed past his left shoulder.

Neinke had to stretch a bit to see around the massive soldier-administrator. "Oh yes, that is the witch that paralyzed me and cast me out of my world and into yours."

"I gander she is a hostile party?" Hess asked.

"She was under pain of death for causing a crop blight that threatened the northern half of the Kingdom," Neinke found herself quickly explaining, as the witch was approaching. "I should deal with — " An outstretched hand from Hess stopped her.

"Concern not about it. You are in Sigma territory, and subject to Sigma protections. Just to confirm, she is a hostile intent on harming or killing you?"

"Yes, she has tried so once already, I doubt she seeks to make amends," Neinke said.

"She's approaching," the same lady-in-attendance said quietly in a directed whisper.

"Clarence, give me a ten-yard call-out," Hess said.

Clarence snorted, then smiled a devilish smile. Apparently this was some manner of jest or joke amongst them? Or was something else at play? "Aye aye. Thirty, now."

"I did not expect you to find fast allies where I disposed of you, Knight. I do believe it appropriate to finish you, and deal with your new-found cohorts," the witch declared as she continued the slow approach, self-assured of her superiority.

Surprisingly, Hess sighed and closed his eyes, his right hand resting on one of the pouches attached to his armor tunic. " 'Crosses grow on Anzio,' " he said, which made no sense to Neinke as a phrase, but she could tell that whatever it meant, it was something that helped bring him to another state of calmness.

" 'Where no soldier sleeps and where Hell's six feet deep,' " Clint said, apparently in continuation of what Hess said.

" 'That death does wait, there's no debate,' " Victoria continued the less-than-sensical chant, but from her Neinke could sense some serious anticipation.

" 'So charge and attack,' " Clarence said, most anticipative of all amongst the cohort.

Immediately, Hess snapped his eyes open and Neinke could sense the instant rush of mind and spirit as he acted. She only barely caught his right hand move to his holster and draw the pistol, as he twisted his body around to fire a single, rapid shot at the oncoming witch. The witch clutched her chest and fell to her knees, and momentarily Neinke saw the crimson telltale of blood escaping from her fingers. After a moment more, the witch collapsed to her left and rested there, her hands dislodged from what was now a gaping, bloodied hole in her chest almost exactly where the heart would be.

" 'Going to Hell and Back,' " Hess finished the saying that had initiated the effective ambush. After she did her best to recall what she had just witnessed, Neinke had to admit that she had just seen a single strike — an ambush, in all reality — that was literally so fast there was no hope of a mortal man overcoming it and escaping the line of fire unharmed. "Tango down," he reported after the enemy slumped unconscious from blood loss.

"Damn good shot, boss, that was an X-ring hit," Victoria said.

Neinke noticed in her lap one of the brass objects, this one still smoking from the shot that Hess had delivered to rightly end the witch. "Curious, is this a byproduct of your firearms' functioning?" she asked.

"Yes, it is," Clarence said.

"She is clinically dead at this point," High Executor Nereus announced.

Hess holstered his pistol with one hand and reached up to the communication device on his chest with the other. "Militia from Sigma One, requesting gurney to the training room in Admin for removal of deceased tango to be transported to the morgue, how copy?"

"Sigma One, Militia One, copy all. Begging the Boss' pardon, how did we end up with a tango in the training room? Over," the box on the back left shoulder of Hess' tunic squawked.

"Militia, Executor Nereus, tango gated herself into the room in search of someone else, declared direct threat to the command level, was gunned down by Sigma One in one shot. Clean shoot, repeat, clean shoot."

"Copy all, is there video sir?"

"Confirmed, Militia, video of the incident is available," the lady's voice from before reported. "Wait — warning! Activity at the body!"

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Clint asked after he caught sight of her hand twitch. Neinke blanched at the raw profanity from such a ranking person, but held her silence.

"Death comes to us all, but it looks like this one will need a revisit," Victoria said.

"If at first you do not succeed, apply more firepower. Toni," Hess said.

"Portable Ion Cannon sound good?" the lady-in-attendance to Hess asked.

"I hope so, we're running out of underground-usable options here," Clint said.

The lady-in-attendance turned to the rear of the room and engaged some sort of machine. A light on the panel went from amber to red, then from red to green, and a mechanical ratcheting sound presaged the lady opening the front of the machine. From it she extracted four objects, two large mottled gray units and two much smaller objects of indeterminate purpose? She was quick to bring the objects forward, to which she gave one of the large ones to Hess and a small one thereafter. Both attached a coiled part of the small machine to the backend of the larger one, and both shouldered the large machine.

"Five shots on these power packs," Toni reported.

"At this range, should only need one," Hess answered.

Neinke saw a faint glow from under the lady's chest, and realized what had happened. The big guy had not failed in his shot, but the witch was protected by a charm that apparently resurrected her? "A charm of some kind," the lady Knight said. After the witch sat up and braced to stand up, Neinke caught sight of a minor glow around the pendant she had been wearing. "There! The pendant!"

"I see it," Toni said as the witch stood up to full standing.

"I do not remember how you struck me down so quickly and efficiently, soldier," the witch said calmly. "You will live long enough to show me what you did." Neinke considered that the mirror concept of her threat was that the rest of the group would not live.

"My apologies in advance, but I am not interested in waiting. Clint, give her a Golf-18 repeat of the lesson, if you would?" Hess requested.

"Right, boss," Clint said in a bored fashion, but his peevish answer was an auditory concealment of him doing something to his pistol that Neinke guessed was loading it? The weapon made a metallic clanging sound just before he passed behind the lady-in-attendance to Hess, then when he was clear he raised it to present. The weapon made a loud, sustained tearing sound that rang Neinke's ears to an almost-painful degree, though she was mostly entranced by the shower of brass leftovers spewed from the side of the weapon.

The result on the witch's end was far more horrifying than Neinke imagined possible. Instead of one good, clean wound in the center of her chest, this weapon had peppered her with dozens of hits from her thighs to her bust. Again, the enemy was likely dead, this time faster than the first time, but it was only after she dropped that Hess raised his weapon to aim at her. He fired one shot, which turned out to be some kind of bright blue streak from the weapon to her chest, and with it her neck, shoulders, and most of her breasts were obliterated and spread around the area as a pink puff of mist and assorted chunks of bone and tissue.

"Virtue, confirm pendant destruction," Hess requested after he lowered his weapon.

"Affirmative, I have no trace of it," a voice rang out from the walls of the room.

"I think you got 'er, butch," Clarence clapped Hess on the shoulder.

"I don't trust that she's dead, can we pyro the body?" Clint asked.

"If she comes back for a third round, she can have the damned base. We're truckin' out of here," Hess said.

"I say we pull off planet, nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure," Victoria said, which caused Clarence and Clint a short giggling fit. To Neinke, her suggestion made no sense, given that she did not understand what was meant by 'nuke' or 'orbit', and the idiom 'pull off planet' made no sense even in context.

"She is dead, leave her be," Hess ordered before he stepped down the massive blue-beam weapon and disassembled the two components.

"Not moving yet, so that's a good sign," High Executor Nereus said.

"I think we're done here," the lady-in-attendance to Hess said.

Neinke heard the door to the facility open again, and this time could turn to look at the entrants. Two men, almost exactly looking the same excepting varied gear, came in with some manner of wheeled cart that looked fit for only a body? The two came over to the group and stopped. The Lady Knight was mildly surprised that the two came to attention and saluted. "Sir! Here for recovery of a dead wench."

-x-

"Wench? At a guess, probably not, I have no reason to suspect her of prostitution," Hess said after a quick glance at the deceased. "Definitely a witch, though, in the literal use of the word. Listen up, and these are going to be strange instructions so brace for it. Recover the body and secure in the morgue at the base medical facility. You are then to stand post on the body for two hours. If she stays dead, more is the better and you may resume normal operations. If she revives again, call immediately on the command channel with an alert and evacuate the area."

"Revives again, sir? Party animal came back for a second round?" one of the two asked.

"Aye, she had a second go at it. We think we cooked her method of auto-revival, so this should be the end of it. Should," Sigma One admitted the possibility of a third go-around. "Also, padlock the morgue cell once she is secured. Possible that if she revives again, she may not be able to get loose if she can't get out of her cold storage."

"And if she does come back for a third round, sir?" Barrett asked.

"I will deal with her," Nereus said coldly.

"Clear her out, militiamen," Hess ordered. "Dismissed."

Nereus flinched partway through that simple sentence, then looked toward the shoot house in the METARgraphic field (or, to Hess' way of thinking, through it). "The gate hole they came through just closed up."

Neinke gasped. "Am I now condemned to remain here?"

Hess looked to the Executor. "Can it be reopened, sir?" he asked.

"Oh Hell yes, easily," Nereus said. "Trivial exercise. I could have it reopened in 90 seconds if need be."

Hess shrugged. "You are not condemned to remain, but by the same consideration you are not under obligation to depart. Sigma does not turn away persons except those who intend us harm."

-x-

Neinke was surprised by the answer, to the point of blushing about it. She thoroughly expected to be ordered back to her homeworld, maybe even punished for her role in the happenings of today? But, much to her initial surprise, she was not ordered off world to return to hers, and apparently was now under an implicit offer to remain? On the face of it, it seemed a nonsensical offer, as Neinke really had nothing to offer to the nation, and had no readily apparent cause to remain. Granted, she did want to learn about these methods of war that they practiced, and to be outfitted with such arms!

On some sober reflection, though, she considered that these persons around her were soldiers of an art of war, an art that she had just witnessed ripped up one of the most fearsome foes of her homeworld — a witch — and killed her not once, but twice. Nearly effortlessly. Just being in their presence was a bit hair-raising to her, despite her time on the battlefield she was still scared stiff by the prospect of having to face even someone 'greenhorn' of these ranks. For certain, the soldiers in front of her were veterans? It was hard to tell, they were certainly at ease with the use of arms and flow of battle, even when something untoward happened on the battlefield they continued the mission without fault.

And Neinke also had to consider that she had a duty to the Kingdom, which raised the question: would simply returning home be the appropriate decision, and forget about this marvelous place, or would it be prudent to remain and learn of their arts of war? Such a decision was no manner of simple, especially playing out in her mind with just the glimpses she saw, she wanted to understand what manner of arts were at play, how they were employed, and the industry that was certainly necessary in constructing such marvelous equipment and munitions. For certain, that five of the soldiers in the room possessed the same arquebus, and all but one possessed the same pistol, bespoke some manner of repeatable manufacturing processes? Certainly, such standardization could greatly help with affairs around the Kingdom, and if they could create standardized weapons for the troops, they would have eminent advantage over anyone else on the continent — maybe the world itself?

More to the point, she also wanted to understand the troops involved. While the Kingdom of Havon had some of the cleanest and most honorable forces on the continent, they were pale shadows and dirty mongrels in comparison to the troops here. Where the amount of vulgar epithets she had heard in this training hall could be counted on one hand, such fouled wordplay could be heard in a single sentence in certain regiments of the Kingdom's troops. And the complete lack of lewdness in their conduct was just as surprising, the closest thing she had heard and understood was a potential wordplay between the terms 'witch' (purveyor of fouled magicks) and 'wench' (a prostitute), which could just as easily be an innocent misspeak on the part of the Militiaman. For certain, she sensed no lewd or lascivious conduct or even thoughts from the men in the room, a far cry from what she had to endure in the Kingdom's regiments. There were some formations she would not walk through in full battle gear without at least one of the other Knights Eloquence at her side for backup and virtue purposes.

"Fun's over, boss," Clint said before he clapped the big guy on the shoulder.

"Indeed, time for the review and the start of the day. I gather you do not have a solid answer, Lady Honoratia?" the big guy asked her directly.

"I, er, find myself torn between the two decisions," she admitted readily, then after the fact wondered why she considered herself at such ease as to give such a frank answer on the question.

"It is a bit much to ask for a fast answer on that one," Nereus pointed out.

"Quite true, High Executor. I'd say maybe a day test?" Nereus nodded, which led to a question:

"A day test, Highness?" Neinke asked, unsure what was specifically intended.

"Yes. In a day, you should have an idea whether or not you truly wish to remain or return. A day's delay should not affect reopening the Gate?" Hess asked Nereus.

"Not at all," the Executor said. "I could reopen it in a week without issue."

"So where to drop you for total immersion… " Hess mused. "I will need to think about this. For now, we will review the battle. Command Center on the third floor is where we will conduct the review."

-x-

"How much does one of those Ion Cannons weigh?" Clarence asked on the way up the stairs from the training room / shooting range.

"Not bad, fifteen pounds or so," Hess declared. "The ammo is the challenge. Every five rounds is 2 pounds and unlike munition weapons, that weight doesn't go away." Hess was referring to the satchel batteries he had clipped onto his already-heavily-loaded armor tunic, which did not lose weight as they were drained.

"Or the heavier Military Power Pack units," Clarence pointed out.

Hess sighed after he reached the top of the stairs to the ground floor. "If I was carrying a laser rifle or such, a good Military Power Pack and some sub-packs would be optimal. Or maybe two?"

"Two would be good, the high-cap units can hold roughly 100 shots apiece for a good solid laser rifle or the L50 ISL," Clarence said. "Of course, the superbeast you're carrying, one high cap is only fifteen rounds."

"Probably want to leave the superheavy energy weapons to the Armored Infantry, where they can carry in a Support PPC power pack or similar," Hess judged.

"Catered breakfast or MRE?" Clint asked after he reached the landing at the top of the stairs.

"Catered, we have the morning staff meeting immediately after the review. And then we have a meeting with the Century Commander."

"Ten-four, I'll get it set up," Clint said before he turned off into the mess hall.

"If I may ask, Highness, what brought you to the art of war in this fashion?" Neinke asked as they passed by the cafeteria staff entrance.

"For I, it started as a bit of a hobby, a way to make some extra coin with an interesting skill. After I met a few local patriots, though, it slowly became more of a skill for use in defending my home nation, and less of a trade or business venture. Now, I use those skills to save lives and build a better world here."

His answer seemed to confuse Neinke. "You were not a professional soldier?"

"No, I was a tradesman, my skill with arms was secondary," Hess admitted on his way up the next set of stairs.

"Second floor, administrative offices and conference areas. Going up!" Clint said as he continued up the staircase to the next floor.

"If I decided to remain, would there be a place for me in these unusual lands?" Neinke asked, mostly to Hess, but she didn't expect an answer from the lady-in-attendance:

"There is always a place, you just have to be willing to make it your own," Toni answered in lieu of one of the command personnel.

Both were silent for a few moments, then the question Hess expected: "If I may ask, what would be needed to make such a place?" Neinke asked.

"Flexibility," Toni answered just before they arrived at the third floor.

"Things change from minute to minute in this world," Victoria picked up from Toni's rather spartan answer. "If you are willing to adjust to those changes, you'd be a perfect fit… with a little training, that is."

-x-

Neinke was a mild bit hesitant as to what was meant by 'adjust to those changes', but she did not expect anything grossly untoward in such conduct. Adjusting her mindset and skillset was a necessity for being a Knight Eloquence, she expected a degree of that anywhere she went. Excepting, of course, this strange land would require a huge amount of adjusting; from what she saw, they did a lot of things differently. Idly, she wondered exactly how flexible she was willing to be, but realized she didn't have such an answer yet.

"We'll use the main command center room for this," Hess ordered. "Grab some seats, everyone. This review will take a few minutes."

Neinke took a seat at one of the desks, and surprisingly enough the lady-in-attendance to Hess took a seat next to her. "This is the best and worst part of the day's drills, we get a full read on what we did right and what we did wrong."

"All right, settle down," Hess said from the front of the room. "Virtue, fire up monitors at everyone's station for interactive control, main view and facility maps on primary screen."

Neinke held silent as a panel on the desk in front of her lit up and displayed a map of the training facility. A second panel lit up, this time with a message 'not available yet'.

"Okay, Virtue, advance to stack and breach."

Neinke watched the main screen as it showed the troops — four pairs, each of the Administrators and their lady-in-attendance — approach the front door. Neinke first noticed how the team was effectively aiming in all directions, so as to prevent being struck from a non-forward direction? It was an ingenious tactic, she realized, as a team could advance forward into a hostile territory while supporting themselves, and in the case of these future warriors, their firepower and munitions quantities could keep them in the fight for a while.

Clint stopped to the side of the door, which briefly confused Neinke — proper form was to square up to a door, was it not? He slapped some form of white square object onto the portal, pressed a button on it, and ducked back to the wall with his head turned away from the door. A bare moment after Clint turned away, the white square disappeared in a puff of smoke and the door disintegrated into splinters.

"Pause," Hess said. "First lesson of the day, ladies and gentlemen. We need more practice with demo, all eight of us took a bit too long to recover from the blast, initiative is a valuable thing and not wise to squander. From now on, every training session we do will include at least one, preferably more demo, until we are less affected by it. Virtue, resume please."

As Hess went into the specifics of the room entry, Lady Honoratia would not remember much of this first lesson, but the overarching points — preparation, training, handle the unexpected, and always save lives — would remain with her for a lifetime.

-x-x-x-

(20 minutes later)

"Clint, Clarence, be advised that Dagger has already signed up her team for three contracts for today, so we may have to backstop her team in case something gets messy."

"Aye aye," Clarence answered. The lady in attendance to him sighed.

"With pleasure, boss-man," Clint responded.

"Other than that, usual ration, usual fashion. Clarence, I want a report on medium and heavy industry within 30 flying minutes of the base, so we have an idea what manufacturing we can potentially restart for extra income. Won't be this week, but sooner rather than later, follow?"

"Oh, I follow. I take it you want preference to metal processing if I can find one?" Clarence asked.

"Definitely, the scrapping project downstairs would be perfect feed for a foundry," Hess said.

"I'll see what I can gin up," Clarence nodded with a smile.

"Victoria, Sidonia, Neinke, please remain, remainder is dismissed. Good work, team. We'll do it again in a few days."

"_Hai_!" the security detail for Clint and Clarence both responded, which was a word unrecognizable to Neinke but sounded positive as an answer.

Sigma One waited for the door to close to the command room. "And then there was one," he said pensively, but gave no room for a rejoinder. "Herein, I may have an optimal solution for you for a day of understanding, Lady Honoratia."

"Pay up," Victoria said to her escort.

"How did you predict that, ma'am?" Sidonia asked bluntly even as she presented a coin to the officer.

"Because Erich is nothing if not thorough, and a dreadful worry-wart in most circumstances." Victoria explained her logic on the matter. (Twisted logic? Incoherent? Nonsensical? One could pick an adjective in Neinke's estimate and be perfectly accurate without being completely accurate.) "The goal here is to give Lady Honoratia an idea what manner of world she is on, and what could become of her if she chooses to remain."

"Way I see it, since you are doing a lot of work out and about for housing and urban development in addition to your Human Resources work, Neinke would have the best opportunity to see most of it by shadowing you for the day," Hess explained.

"And you, big guy?" Victoria asked.

"I strongly suspect I will be assisting with the rescue contracts that Dagger has planned. This is both unduly hazardous and not a proper example of the duties and environs here," Sigma One said bluntly.

"Ah, got it," Victoria said. "So, Neinke, you don't mind if I call you that?"

"Not at all, ma'am," Lady Honoratia replied.

"You're with me for the day. I have a full day ahead of me, so you will want to keep pace and ask questions as you see necessary. There should be no further combat, practice or real, but always be aware of your surroundings. Come on, time to get to it," Victoria waved Neinke and Sidonia toward the door.

"Another day, another interesting entrant," Hess said with some humor to voice.

"Think she will stay?" Toni asked.

"Better than fifty-fifty, she is entranced with our arts of war, but here she has no rank and is going to have to earn her place." Hess sighed mightily. "Well, nothing new in that story, we are all earning our place."

* * *

**Author's Chapter Afterword**:

This strikes one as not necessarily a chapter that fits in with the Story 2 series — it doesn't involve any manner of plotting for or against Sigma One, or any kind of unusual tasking or training, but believe me on this if nothing else, this chapter will definitely return to haunt Sigma One and SSO Lead in very short order.

Neinke is not really a romantic in the old-school knight / chivalry sense. As such, she's not really in the running for the contest to come, one way or the other, but being an outsider watching a conspiracy unfold around her, she will definitely have a few choice words for both sides of this equation. More to the point, her position and upbringing outside most modern context will also give her a very sharp opinion on the de-facto hazing ritual they are planning, and things will get a little bit spiky on that note — briefly. The results of the 'conspiracy' will determine more of what is to come than the intent, and her correct guesses on the nature of the events and the outcomes will result in some interesting paths forward for her.

In coming chapters, Neinke's background and the world from which she hails will be explored to a degree, but the real meat in her backstory will come to light in a story in the future — her desire to learn the local arts of war is for a rather specific purpose, which was partially covered in her own internal musings on the subject. More to the point, her own natural inquisitiveness draws her to this new world and new society readily, in that she has stumbled into something so bizarre and alien, yet unusually comfortable and welcoming, that she can't force herself away from it. It becomes the dichotomy of curiosity versus dangerous environs: she knows she's headed for hazardous times, she just can't force herself away from it.

As to the actual training battle, this one was a success for the entry team because the enemy was simulated as a mostly-disorganized but rather vicious clusterfuck. This gave Sigma a critical advantage in dealing with the enemy forces, but not enough to ensure victory; the real nature of the success was in a combination of technique, flexibility, and accuracy of the Sigma troops under pressure. The years of drilling, interfacing with the Sheriffs and SWAT, has paid off for the team, and now they begin the process of imparting those lessons to the Secret Service Operators and thereafter into the general Sigma troops. The Magi will have their own equivalent lesson plans to pass down to Sigma on the subject, with much the same results. This simulation will be shown as the beginning of an era for the merc unit, and it will continue to show for many stories to come.

That's it for this chapter. **NEXT UP**: Neinke settles in with the rest of the Secret Service troops, not yet sure of her place, but willing to give it a shot. She's not sold on joining the SSO, but in her willingness to learn, she may be discovering paths to come…

* * *

**Review Replies**:

No reviews for Chapter 4. To a degree I expect this, as this story is a side story of a side story of one of my lesser-popular works. If you have anything to say, criticism or reinforcement, I want to hear it!

* * *

**The Gripe Sheet**:

No complaints for the last chapter (for the same reason as above). Much thanks to **Necroblade**, **Sieben Nightwing**, and **Takeshi Yamato** for cleaning up my writing!

* * *

**Included Works**:

—**Personal Works**: Neinke's homeworld is a derivation of natural history that has some changes thrown in for good measure. More of this will be explored in depth going forward.


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